From “The Sydney Bushwalker”, Sept 99

Test your preparedness

1. Is your tetanus immunisation up to date?
   1. Yes/no/don’t know
2. Tetanus bacteria are prevalent in the bush, rural areas and in your back garden. They are found in soil and dust and spread by animal and human faeces.
   1. True/false
3. The organism can enter the body through a break in the skin, especially from scratches or insect bites and once fully immunised, with a booster 10 years after primary immunisation as a child, no further immunisations are required.
   1. True/false
4. The tetanus bacterium attacks the central nervous system. The first indication of infection is usually:
   1. frothing at the mouth
   2. stiffness of the jaw?
5. Other early signs are:
   1. difficulty swallowing
   2. crankiness
   3. headache
   4. chills and fever
   5. convulsions
   6. all of the above
   7. a craving for chocolate

Tetanus Quiz Answers

1. 1. Yes - excellent , No - make an appointment for a tetanus shot now, Don’t know - find out!!
2. 2. True.
3. 3. True - after a complete course of primary immunisation as a child (are you sure this was done??) and a booster as a teenager, 10 yearly boosters are no longer thought to be needed.
4. 4. b. Tetanus is also known as “Lockjaw”
5. 5. f. all of the above (A - E).

FACTS ABOUT TETANUS Tetanus has an incubation period of from two weeks to several months. The first symptoms are usually headache and difficulty swallowing and moving the jaw.

Tetanus kills. Over 50% of cases prove fatal, so if you are not fully immunised....