Regarding tetanus
"Is disinfection necessary to prevent tetanus infection?"
Tetanus is a disease that leads to death by causing tetanus bacteria to enter the body, producing neurotoxins, causing tonic convulsions, and causing respiratory problems. Currently, 30 to 50 cases occur annually in Japan, and the mortality rate is extremely high at 20% to 50%. Once it has developed, the only way to deal with muscle spasms is to administer tetanus human immunoglobulin immediately after the injury.
Tetanus bacteria are anaerobic bacteria that exist in the soil and are usually dormant in the form of spores, but this occurs when they enter the wound with the soil and wake up and begin to act. . In short, if you get hurt outside, consider tetanus, as it is written in any textbook.
It is often said that if you step on an old nail, it becomes tetanus, but this is because tetanus bacteria enter the wound with the nail, which becomes a closed space and becomes an anaerobic condition.
If a terrible disease develops, there is no fundamental treatment. Tetanus can only be prevented from developing as described above.
Some people argue that disinfection is absolutely necessary for wounds that contain dirt because disinfection prevents tetanus.
Can sterilization kill tetanus?
Tetanus bacteria usually exist in the ground in the form of “spores”. “Spores” will not die if they are half-life. If you continue to heat for more than 15 minutes in boiling water, the spores will still not die.
If you want to kill the spores, heat them at 120 ° C for 15 minutes, or use a strong toxic disinfectant that can be dangerous and unusable for humans. In other words, the spore will not die if it is disinfected a little with a commonly used disinfectant.
Therefore, just because it is a wound with dirt in it, it should be considered invalid to prevent tetanus even if it is disinfected. (Thoroughly disinfecting with a disinfectant that can destroy the tissue may have some effect, but a surgical procedure is preferable to doing so.)
Dirty or dead tissue promotes the growth of tetanus bacteria, so the topical treatment of a tetanus-sensitive wound is to be aggressively debridemented or washed with plenty of water.
Especially deep stabs should be cleaned or debridemented quickly and thoroughly. Needless to say, foreign bodies and destroyed tissue must be removed surgically.
Also, systemic tetanus immunoglobulin may be necessary.
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