Tetanus

When a tetanus toxoid vaccination is indicated, pediatric patients treated with B-cell depleting therapy in the past 6 months should receive passive immunization, according to updated EULAR vaccine recommendations.

Maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination has been achieved by 80% of the 59 countries identified in 1999 as being still at risk for the infection, according to a report published in MMWR.

The national vaccine exemption rate among children entering kindergarten in the 2019-2020 school year was 2.5% from at least one vaccine, the same rate as the previous year, new data published in MMWR showed.

Adult vaccination coverage and compliance varies substantially by state, even with adjustments for individual state-characteristics, according to study results presented at IDWeek.

Approximately 70% of U.S. adolescents are not up to date on routine vaccinations for HPV, meningococcal disease and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis by the age of 17 years, according to data presented at IDWeek.

COVID-19 has brought up the use of the old remedy convalescent serum. What is it? Did it work? This series walks us through the history of the serum, how it was discovered, how it was first used, and how it inspired the field of immunology.

At least 80 million children aged younger than 1 year could miss routine vaccinations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO and other groups warned today.

Globally, reported cases of neonatal tetanus decreased by 90% from 2000 to 2018 and neonatal deaths from the bacterial infection fell 85%, according to a report published recently in MMWR, which summarized progress toward eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).

Adults do not need to receive tetanus or diphtheria booster shots if they have completed the childhood vaccination series, according to the results of an observational cohort study.

A healthy, 3-year-old female was running in her backyard without shoes and impaled her left foot on a nail attached to a board. She was taken to the local ER, where the nail was removed after a radiograph demonstrated that no bone injury was sustained (Figure 1). The patient had documentation of having received her routine 2-, 4- and 6-month immunizations including tetanus, followed by a 4th dose of DTaP at 18 months. She has received no tetanus toxoid since then.