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Essay Name       : 1331.txt 
Uploader         : Mike Seto
Email Address    : 
Language         : English
Subject          : Health
Title            : Tetanus : The Physiology of a killer
Grade            : 10
School System    : Public
Country          : Canada
Author Comments  : More Facts Than Anything..
Teacher Comments : Long and detailed, but loses readers interest with too many factoids
Date             : November 20
Site found at    : Best Friend Told Me
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What this report is about is the life, physical, and mental characteristics
about Tetanus which is also known as clostridium botulinum or C.  Tetani.  

     The purpose for me doing this report is to solely teach everyone about the
good things and bad things ( Mostly bad things ) about the tetanus pathogen and
to benefit my own education.  Anther reason I'm doing this report is that I think
it will be enjoying as I did it in my free time.

     Tetanus is an interesting bacteria with many things about you would not
believe.  One type of it is smaller than a fifth the diameter of a single strand of
hair yet it could kill any man only by producing 0.00025 grams of toxin.  It
would take 20 times that of the deadliest cobra venom to do that and 150 times
that of strychnine in order to kill a man.  There are also many other facts like
this and opinions inside the body of this report that you should find out.  If you
wish to find them out, turn the page!!     Although the Clostridium Tetani is one of the world's most dangerous
pathogens (Bacteria).  Clostridium Tetani are  not parasites like AIDS or Polio,
in fact is a  saprophyte.  That means they are mainly decomposers and cannot
reproduce, grow or live to a degree that they could if they were in waste or
dead matter.  These saprophytes are mainly found in places such as soil plus
human and animal feces, but their spores can be found everywhere such as on
steel, sewage, manure, on your hands, on your feet, on your nose, and every
other possible place you can think of.
     C.  Tetani has the most potent exotoxin of all the known micro-organisms
in the world.  It's toxin, as will be mentioned below, is very deadly in small
doses and mainly focuses it's destructive capabilities on destroying nerves that
command motor skills, the heart, the lungs, and much more.  This type of
Tetanus irritates the nerves so much it can fray them or even make signals of it's
own like giving the guy spasms or increased or decreased heart rate.  Sometimes
even throwing the poor guy into involuntary dances or exhaustion.  The use of
antitoxin in the treatment and prevention of Tetanus is an example of passive
immunity from the pathogen and was a first cast of this.  This  immunity was
discovered by von Behring and Fränkel in 1890.
     Tetanus organisms gain entrance to the body through dirt or dirty objects
when they forced into non-dead tissue by gun-shot, shrapnel, deep, extensive,
and dirt-contaminated wounds, or many other accidental ways.  Under most
circumstances some tissue is killed in the local area in which the wound was
received.  As Tetanus pathogens are anaerobic and are decomposers, they find
that reproducing in the dead tissue in the airless wound favourable to do.
     And while reproducing, the Tetanus pathogen finds it convenient to
secrete and extract it's insidious toxin, which kills of more cells for it to
reproduce on.
     Tetanus toxin is one of the most potent poisons known.  It requires only
about 0.00025 grams of Tetanus toxin to seriously kill a man.  It would take 20
times that of the deadliest cobra venom on the Earth's surface to do that and 150
times that of strychnine in order to do that again.
     Doctors diagnose Tetanus by looking for the following syndromes:
- Jaw stiffness followed by spasms of jaw muscles (Known as Trismus)
- Stiffness of the neck and other muscles, dysphagia, irritability, and hyperfleia.
- Painful convulsions extracted from minimal response to stimuli such as reflex
action.
- History of a wound and possible contamination.
     Once a doctor discovers a patient has Tetanus, he will give 5000 units
(International-Standard) of Tetanus immune globulin.  If that is not available,
then he will give Tetanus antitoxin.  100000 units of it if the patient is able to
withstand the horse serum they use, else the amount will be questionable.  The
symptoms of Tetanus are eliminated with chlorpromazine or diazepam which is
combined with a sedative.  In desperate cases, the doctor will use curarization.
     This can be all be prevented by giving immunizations of Tetanus toxoid
(Tetanus toxoid is a sterile solution of fluid Tetanus toxoid that is rendered
disabled).  Given 2 injections of 0.5 ml every 4-8 weeks and another in 12
months, the Tetanus pathogen will have no chance of survival.  Booster shots
should also be given every 5 years.  Using Tetanus  immune hemoglobin is
perferrable to using Tetanus toxoid.
     The death rate occurring from Tetanus occurs more likely in young
children and elderly people.  With shorter incubation periods of the Tetanus
pathogen and non-delay of treatment, Tetanus can be overcome more quickly
than long incubation periods with big delays of treatment.  In other words, once
you see the symptoms of Tetanus, run to your doctor for diagnosis.  Also, if
trismus develops early, you are a dead man.
     Contaminated lesions in the head in face are more deadlier than any other
part of your body being contaminated.
     Tetanus belongs to a group of pathogens called clostridium ('C.' for short). 
Clostridium is a group that does not breathe air and will died of prolonged
exposure to oxygen.   
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