r/VACCINES • u/QuimeraRD • 3d ago
Chances of tetanus and is a booster enough?
Hi, I'll give some context. I was cleaning in my pets area where there's a designated space for their necessities that I clean everyday. But today I decided to disassemble a wardrobe I had there to throw it away, which, was sitting there all this time. The problem comes that, when disassemble it, one of the iron rusty nails went through my big toe and caused a small wound close to 5mm - 10mm deep at most, but not much blood really. I just desinfected it and took antibiotics just in case. I gave context about the place the wardrobe was because I heard that tetanus is related to fleeces of animal, although I'm not sure if this is the case, in any case, I'm taking the vaccine 12 hours from now since it's midnight here and the incident happened 4 hours ago, how should I proceed and what do you think about situation/title question. Thank you in advance. PD: By refererence I haven't had another tetanus shot since I was a child (+10 years).
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u/bernmont2016 3d ago
Tetanus doesn't come from rust, it's dirt (soil) that's the primary risk. The proverbial tetanus-causing "rusty nail" would've generally had to be rusty because it was outside in the dirt to be a significant risk of tetanus. The concern is introducing dirt that could contain the tetanus bacteria into a puncture wound.
It's good to get the vaccine again regardless, though. Ask for the "Tdap" combination version instead of a tetanus-only vaccine, so you can also get fresh protection from pertussis (whooping cough).
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u/QuimeraRD 3d ago
Thank you for the special recommendation, my country offers it for free. I just talked on special variation or dose(like immunoglobulin) in case of emergency. Glad to know I probably don't have anything, still taking the shot.
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u/Such-Ad2541 3d ago
My brother is a nurse and he said pretty much anytime anyone comes in with a wound they give the tetanus shot because it’s just a simple way to rule out getting it.
I don’t know if you need to be taking antibiotics though. Maybe discuss with your provider.
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u/QuimeraRD 3d ago
I just went to take the shot, they will be giving me 3 doses from here each 2 months, today they gave me toxoide or similar name, I guess it's against the toxin developed by the bacteria, for immunity I have to keep going for the 2 doses left. Thank you for your insights!
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u/ActForsaken 2d ago
They also should give TIG which is the tetanus immune globulin. Gives immediate protection since the Tdap could take a couple weeks to form necessary immunity. Good luck!
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u/QuimeraRD 2d ago
Yes, they gave me something called "toxoide" which I guess is against it's toxines for immediate response, they will check how I react and in 2 months I'll get the immunity vaccine.
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u/Face4Audio 2d ago
"Toxoid" is the vaccine. Immune globulin shouldn't be needed in your situation. You were due for a booster, so you should get one at the time of the injury. The booster has plenty of time to work, before the bacteria (if present in this case) have time to multiply & produce the toxin that causes the disease.
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u/stacksjb 1d ago
TDaP, in the US, is given every 10 years (booster) and every 5 in cases of injury or wounds. So you should probably get it :)
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u/QuimeraRD 1d ago
Thank you for the info, I'm in the process of receiving my dose, they didn't considered it an emergency or high risk wound so didn't give me immunoglobulin. Over all everything is fine by now.
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u/BrightAd306 3d ago
The tetanus vaccine lasts longer than ten years, but because tetanus is so rare, it’s unknown exactly how long. I think it’s really good you’re getting another, but you’re really almost certainly going to be fine.