Patient's question:
I heard that it is very dangerous if the baby gets tetanus at birth. I don't know much about this disease. Could you please tell me what neonatal tetanus surveillance is like? Is there case surveillance?Doctor's answer:
To ensure the quality of monitoring work and achieve the goal of eliminating neonatal tetanus, the monitoring system adopts the following standard case definitions.Suspected case of neonatal tetanus:
Any case of neonatal tetanus reported by trained health personnel (uninvestigated); or
Any unexplained death or case of sucking difficulty occurring between days 2 and 28 after birth, where the neonate was normal at birth in terms of sucking and crying.
Confirmed case of neonatal tetanus:
Normal sucking and crying after birth;
Onset between days 2 and 28 after birth;
Inability to suck or difficulty feeding after onset, followed by muscle rigidity and/or spasms.
Excluded case of neonatal tetanus:
Suspected cases that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for confirmed cases after investigation can be excluded, and excluded cases should have a clear diagnosis; uninvestigated suspected cases are classified as confirmed cases.