The Pathophysiology of TetanusWritten by Wong Lai Teng
Tetanus is an acute, often fatal disease caused by an exotoxin produced in a wound by Clostridium tetani. Clostridium tetani is a gram-positive, nonencapsulated, motile, obligatively anaerobic bacillus. It exists in vegetative and sporulated forms. Spores are highly resistant to disinfections by chemical or heat, but vegetative forms are susceptible to bactericidal effect of heat, chemical disinfectants, and a number of antibiotics.Clostridium tetani is a noninvasive organism. It is found in soil and in intestine and feces of horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs and chicken. Manure-treated soil may contain large numbers of spores too. Tetanus occurs after spores or vegetative bacteria gain access to tissues and produce toxin locally. The usual mode of entry is trough a puncture wound or laceration. Tetanus may also follow elective surgery, burn wounds, otitis media, dental infection, abortion and pregnancy. Neonatal tetanus usually follows infection of umbilical stump. In presence of anaerobic conditions, spores germinate. Toxins,including tetanolysin (which potentiates infection) and tetanospasmin (a potent neurotoxin) are produced. Tetanospasmin, often referred to as tetanus toxin, causes clinical tetanus. The toxin produced is disseminated through bloodstream and lymphatic system. However, it does not enter central nervous system through this route, as it cannot cross blood brain barrier except at fourth ventricle. The toxin is exclusively taken up by neuromuscular junction, where it migrates retrograde transynaptically at rate 75-250mm/day, a process which takes 3-14 days, protected from neutralizing antitoxin, predominantly to inhibitory synapses to prevent release of acetylcholine.
| | Vasectomy surgery – who should have it.Written by J.P. Miller
Deciding to have vasectomy surgery is a very important choice for a man to make and final decision should be left up to you. Not your family or wife after all it is your body and you must live with consequences for rest of your life. If you’re a man that intends to never have children again then you may be a good candidate to have this procedure done. If you KNOW, not just think you never want to have children again in your life time then you might want to explore possibility of having vasectomy surgery.Remember that having vasectomy surgery will in most cases stop your ability to deliver viable sperm to your mate so pregnancy doesn’t occur, having this procedure like any operation will not guarantee that you will not get a women pregnant. Abstinence is only 100% way to avoid this. Generally success rate is very high, well over 99%. Vasectomies are for birth control but will not protect you from STD’s such as Aid’s, Gonorrhea, syphilis or any other sexually transmitted disease. Some people even develop a false sense of security after having a vasectomy and ignore risks involved with having multiple partners, using excuse that they will not get girl pregnant as a reason for not protecting themselves. Safe sex is always important when you’re not in a long-term monogamous relationship. Here is a list of items you may want to go over before having big “SNIP”.
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