Prevention Is Better Than Cure

"I honestly never thought I would see this disease in the United States."
"It was difficult -- for many of us -- to see him [unvaccinated six-year-old boy who contracted tetanus] suffer."
Dr. Judith A. Guzman-Cottrill, pediatric infectious disease specialist, Oregon Health & Science University

A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlined a case of the state of Oregon's first documented pediatric case of tetanus in over thirty years. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report chronicled the instance of a child living on a farm playing as children do, and an accident occurred with the six-year-old coming away with a cut to his forehead. Slight enough not to raise any alarms in the child's parents' minds who simply cleaned it up and set the incident aside as a normal enough occurrence in a child's active lifestyle.

The story, however, does not end there. This was a child who had never been inoculated against anything; no vaccination ever, for any reason. The days passed and by the sixth day following the laceration the child's parents understood from symptoms their child was experiencing -- clenching his jaw, breathing problems, and involuntary muscle spasms -- that something was seriously, fearfully awry. They took him to Oregon Health Science University hospital where he was speedily diagnosed with tetanus.

The article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report described a prolonged period of hospitalization and treatment fraught with concern over the child's recovery. And it served as a warning of the potential dangers that could accrue in encountering a disease with a formidable affect on human health and mortality; a bout with tetanus readily preventable with the proper vaccination. It took 57 days being intensively hospital-treated at a cost of over $800,000 in medical bills, for the child to finally emerge from his ordeal.

The United States, like many other national jurisdictions across the world, is currently experiencing an outbreak of measles. Once considered a 'normal' childhood infection that children conventionally came down with and speedily recovered from, it does, nonetheless pose an extremely serious risk to health and even mortality in rare cases, for some unfortunates in any population. It is entirely preventable. Its roaring return is linked with a growing contingent of people refusing vaccinations.

One of the highest rates of unvaccinated residents in the country live in Oregon, with7.5 percent of kindergarten-age children unvaccinated for non-medical reasons, according to the CDC; exemptions are given when there are verifiable medical reasons to bypass certain impacted children whom the 'herd effect' of having a sufficient number of children vaccinated must reach critical numbers for protection of children who are medically vulnerable.

The problem has become so acute in parts of the world that Italy has seen fit to make it legally mandatory for children to be vaccinated before they may enter the public school system. Generally, parents who fail to have their children vaccinated express concerns relating to side effects, or over cost, over moral or religious objections, along with scientifically-discounted fears that vaccines result in autism. Health experts remind the public that such resistance or refusal to inoculate their children raises the chances of an outbreak.

As for the parents of that six-year-old child whose brush with an early mortality was described in the CDC report by Dr. Judith Guzman-Cottrill who assisted in the medical care of the boy and was lead author of the article, despite exposure to an "extensive review" of the risks and benefits of vaccination, they have decided to turn down the second tetanus vaccination, along with any other immunization for their child recommended by the medical community.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the boy’s parents chose not to continue with his vaccination schedule after he received the first dose and did not give any other recommended immunizations. (Getty images)

Tetanus Can Cause Difficulty Swallowing and Breathing

Tetanus is an infection caused by bacteria. Inside the body, the bacteria produce a toxin, or poison. The toxin causes your muscles to tighten and cramp painfully and causes seizures. Tetanus is also called “lockjaw” because it often causes a person’s neck and jaw muscles to tighten. This can make it hard to open the mouth or swallow. The muscle spasms and seizures can be strong enough to break bones. Muscle spasms can also cause breathing problems. People with tetanus often have to spend several weeks in the hospital under intensive care. Complete recovery can take months. If left untreated, tetanus can be deadly.  Centers for Disease Control & Prevention