Patient's question:
Urgent!!! The child is waiting for a reply at the hospital!!! The boy is exactly 3 years old and needs a tetanus shot after falling. What dose should be used, 500 or 1500? Is a skin test required in advance?First follow-up question: Thank you, Dr. Li! The child fell on an idle clay pot, and the injury is located below the eyebrows and above the upper eyelid, approximately 2 cm long. The ophthalmologist said the dose is 500, while the surgeon said the dose is 1500. What should the correct dose be? The child received a tetanus vaccine when they were a few months old. Do they still need to be vaccinated?
Doctor's answer:
Tetanus is an acute specific infection caused by the invasion of Clostridium tetani into human wounds, where it grows, multiplies, and produces toxins. Clostridium tetani is widely present in soil and animal and human feces. It is a Gram-positive, anaerobic spore-forming bacterium. Neither Clostridium tetani nor its toxins can invade normal skin and mucous membranes, so tetanus always occurs after injury.Timely administration of tetanus antitoxin: 20,000 to 50,000 units of tetanus antitoxin are slowly infused intravenously into 500 to 1,000 milliliters of 5% glucose. For patients with incomplete wound cleaning or severe conditions, an additional 10,000 to 20,000 units may be administered daily via intramuscular or intravenous injection for 3 to 5 days, or 3,000 to 6,000 units of human tetanus immune globulin may be used, requiring only a single injection.
For reference only. It is recommended to actively treat symptoms in accordance with local clinical doctors and personal conditions, rather than blindly using medications.