My question is, why is the window for getting your next shot so long? Getting a shot every 5-10 years? That means that your shot could wear off after five years, but you think you are still protected so you don’t get another shot for five more years? How is this possible? Wouldn’t it be safer just to get your tetanus shot ever 5-6 years to make sure you are always protected? Someone clear this up.
If you worry about things like this.
llardball – I’m sure there is someway you could ask to have your tetnus tider tested around the 5 year peroid if you would really like, and pay for the lab tests to read the tider, or you can just submit to one needle stick and get the booster sometime around 5-10 years
A little while ago I stepped on a rusty nail. I did have a current tetanus shot. They gave me tetracycline as an antibiotic and my eyelids swelled shut. Turns out I was allergic to the antibiotic. I could barely see. I’m not shy so I went to school and everyone looked at me like I had either gotten in a huge fight or I had a booger the sice of a quarter sticking out of my nose. There isn’t a point to this story if your looking for one.
kniz, that sound like a pretty impolite way of saying, “I don’t know.”
You must get your boosts every 10 years. It wears off after for 5 years for serious cuts with infected things. It remains strong enough for minor cuts the ten years.
More explanation:
Lets say that you have a serious cut in which you have to go to the hospital to have it sewn. If your tetanus boost is more than 5 years old, the hospital personnel will give you another boost. (I am not talking either about REALLY serious cuts, just for example if you are running, trip yourself and get injuries in your hands and knees from the dirty pavement.)
Recapping: The boost does not wear off for minor cuts and scratches. If you, in five years, haven’t had any serious injury or cut, it is not worth to get the shot. IF you get one after the five years, the people at the hospital will give you another shot. After 10 years, if nothing has happened, you should get another boost as a precaution.
Current practice in UK: Tetanus given in childhood and boosted at adolescence. High risk occupations offered tetanus in early adulthood or entry into that profession. Other people given tetanus toxin following event that requires it. No boosters given except in high risk professions where it is given after five or ten years regularly depending on the protocols used. This all changed from boosters being automatic about ten years back, but research showed that boosters were only cost-effective in people who were highly likely to suffer tetanus causing events.
I have now let mine lapse, but will renew it the next time I drive a fork thru my foot 
Tetanus is a very serious, but now thankfully rare condition. Vaccinated individuals are strongly protected against this condition. The vaccine promotes formation of antibodies against the toxin, which causes the symptoms of tetanus. The antibodies are detectable for long periods after successful vaccination. I have heard people say that titers are detectable for at least 20 years after boosting, if not for life. (I couldn’t find any articles dealing with the topic of how long, but they are out there).
However, the question here is how to approach a previously vaccinated individual with a possible exposure to tetanus; factors other than how long do the antibodies last come into play. Tetanus is a very serious condition and vaccination with the single component tetanus vaccine (or even the dual diptheria/tetanus vaccine) rarely produces an adverse reaction. Also, even though detectable antibody to tetanus toxin may be present for life, defining a level of antibody sufficient to provide protection is more difficult. Therefore, when a patient presents with a puncture wound or laceration, a conservative approach is to immunize anybody with that hasn’t received a booster within the last 5-10 years, even though the vaccine may afford protection for 20. Moreover, in the current medico-legal environment, ER docs err on the side of immunization.
As an aside, the vaccination approach will not work if you’ve never been vaccinated before. The first exposure to an antigen (inactivated tetanus toxin, in this case) does not lead to a rapid enough antibody response to prevent illness. Successive exposures, however, produce more robust and rapid responses. This phenomenon, termed immunological memory, underlies the success of the post-exposure vaccination approach.
damn, ya caught me…
okay, I should read better – impolite…damn its going a long day if I keep this up…
I was not trying to be impolite, excuse me as it does seem to come across that way reading the first post
my point was that the 5-10 year range is because no one knows exactly how long it takes for your body to have a tider that is too low to produce a response from your body to stop yourself from getting sick. instead of testing tiders all the time (more lab work, more needle sticks, more time taken), the shot is simply given again…
Uh…kinoons, I think manhattan was not referring to you, but to kniz, who posted before you. Unless you and kniz are the same person, of course.
speaking of long day… I’m just going to stop posting and read a bit more for awhile…
ChoosyBeggar, that was an excellent and complete statement of how the tetanus shots work, esp., the point about the booster. I wondered if it would be effective after an infection, as the wisdom says you should get a booster even after only 5 years if you have been possibly exposed to the virus. You explained why that works. Thanks.
Funny but my HMO won’t pay for the booster. I haven’t had one since 9th grade.
Of course they won’t pay for a hep vaccine either.
[hijack, maybe?]
Markxxx, I think many HMO’s and health insurance companies don’t pay for vaccines after a certain age. My health plan won’t cover Heppatitis vaccine if the child is older than 2 years, nor will it cover other other non-required-by-the-state vaccines. It didn’t covered my meningitis vaccine, nor my PPD by mantoux(test for tuberculosis).
[/hijack]
But it makes me think, if it is really needed why wouldn’t it be to their advantage to pay?
You say its really bad adn rare nowadayss?
erm… wht does it do?
It causes the disease Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, a generally fatal infection.
I sliced my right knuckles open on a machine in 1993. I was in Canada. The local “hospital” told me i needed two shots, because it was a Japanese machine and might have a different strain of Tetanus. Was he just yanking my chain?
Qag, is it possible to have too many shots? I get cut on rusty metal about once or five times a day. I’d like to get shots every year if it’s not dangerous, but I don’t know if it’s a bad idea.
b.
b.