-- Tetanus  

In Europe, the incidence of tetanus is estimated at 0,02 case for every 100,000 people and in the US 0,01 case for 100,000 people.

However, tetanus remains a widespread disease. The World Health Organization estimates that 290,000 deaths are caused by tetanus in the world, with most deaths occurring in Africa, South America and Asia. In France, 36 cases were identified in 2011 with a mortality rate of 33% and side-effects rate of 16,7%. Statistics show in France and in the US that the high risk categories are elderly people, women and immigrants.

The prevention of tetanus (the appropriate cleaning of wounds and the injection of immune globulins and/or vaccine) depends on the characteristics of the wound and the vaccination status of the patient. But most patients arrive at emergency care facilities without any vaccination records and without knowing the date of their last booster injection.

ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is currently the standard method used for evaluating the immunity status of patients against tetanus. The results are available only after 48 to 72 hours. As a consequence, unplanned prophylaxis is unnecessarily applied in more than 40% of the cases: anti-tetanus immunoglobulin is excessively prescribed in 17 to 30 % of patients presenting wounds favorable to developing a tetanus infection.

The protection against tetanus facilitated by antibodies and can be only obtained by an active vaccination.The anti-tetanus vaccines are prepared from tetanus anatoxin. The efficiency of the tetanus anatoxin to produce a protective response following vaccination is between 80 and 100% in most clinical trials. 

Three doses of vaccine during infancy confer a protection lasting 3 to 5 years, an additional booster dose (for example at the beginning of childhood) will provide protect during adolescence and one or two additional boosters will induce an immunity during a substantial part of adulthood – approximately 20 to 30 years. 

Diagnosis of tetanus immunization status by medical interview of patients with wounds is poor. The wounds at risk of a tetanus infection are not always easy to identify. Many protected patients receive unnecessary vaccine or immunoglobulin, and unprotected patients may receive nothing.
Tétanos Quick Stick^® (TQS) allows the clinician to determine the vaccination status for tetanus of each patient to determine the personalized treatment of that patient with the injections of vaccine or immunoglobulins.