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SUNDAY, Aug. 3, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- You don't mean to brag, but you're pretty conscious about your health. You watch your diet, exercise regularly, manage stress and see your doctor each year for a physical.
But chances are good that you, along with more than half of American adults, aren't protecting yourself against two potentially fatal diseases.
More than 53 percent of U.S. adults aren't protected against tetanus or diphtheria because they've failed to get the tetanus-diphtheria booster shot that's recommended once every 10 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To educate the public, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) has launched "The Power of 10," a public awareness campaign about the importance of getting a booster shot every decade.
"Probably the biggest obstacle to people getting their diphtheria and tetanus booster is they don't know they are supposed to get it," says Dr. Susan Rehm, president of the NFID and a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic.
While the recommendation to get a booster dose of the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine has been long-standing, it is not well-known, she says.
"There's been a lot of emphasis on childhood vaccines," Rehm says, but much less on the adult immunizations to curtail tetanus and diphtheria.
"Emergency room physicians are generally pretty aware," says Dr. Douglas Campos-Outcalt. He's the medical director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health in Phoenix and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians' Commission for Clinical Policies and Research. If someone goes to the emergency department with a cut or a dog bite, they'll likely be asked about their last tetanus booster, he says.
But adults often forget to get it or aren't aware they need a booster. And that could be a deadly oversight.
Tetanus is often called lockjaw. It's a bacterial disease that affects the nervous system. It is contracted when tetanus bacteria, commonly found in soil, dust and manure, contaminates a cut or a wound. Once infected, the person can get muscles spasms so severe the jaw "locks", making it impossible to open the mouth or swallow. It may even lead to death by suffocation.
Diphtheria is also a bacterial disease, but it usually affects the tonsils, throat, skin or nose. It's passed from affected individuals by droplets -- usually the person breathes in the diphtheria bacteria after someone infected has coughed or sneezed. Drinking from a glass used by an infected person can spread it, too, warns the NFID. The condition leads to breathing problems, heart failure and paralysis.
Even though both diseases are now rare in the United States, they can still prove deadly. The average number of tetanus cases per year from 1998 to 2000 was 43, according to the most recent tetanus surveillance released in June by the CDC. And, on average, there are two or three cases of diphtheria in the United States each year, according to the CDC.
But diphtheria is present in 87 countries, according to the NFID, and tetanus can be contracted via seemingly harmless activities such as gardening. Rehm treated a man who fell ill with tetanus after getting a splinter from a packing crate.
"When I immunize someone, I try to emphasize they are going to have to keep this up every 10 years for the rest of their life," Rehm says. She encourages adults to think of some way to remember easily when their next immunization is due -- perhaps on a "zero" birthday or an anniversary.
Once symptoms begin, treatment for tetanus can include tetanus immune globulin to neutralize the toxin produced by the bacteria. For diphtheria, antitoxin and antibiotics are given.
If people still have doubts about the importance of the immunization, the case history of Rehm's patient who got tetanus from a splinter should convince them. He was on a ventilator in a hospital for six weeks, she says, but he survived.
"It doesn't take something dramatic [to get tetanus]," Rehm says. It can occur after what appears to be a trivial injury, she adds.
More information
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has more on tetanus and diphtheria.
