Clostridium Tetani, The Cuasative Agent Of Tetanus

Clostridium Tetani, the Causative Agent of Tetanus
Name
Institution
Clostridium Tetani, the Causative Agent of Tetanus
Introduction
Tetanus is a severe infection caused by Clostridium Tetani. Also known as lockjaw; tetanus can cause death if not treated immediately. The bacterium that causes Tetanus produces a toxic substance that affects the nervous system and the brain. This causes stiffness of the muscles. This is because the neurotoxin causes interference with the nerves that control the movement of the muscle. As a result, the infection causes difficulty in breathing, which can ultimately lead to death if not treated immediately. The tetanus vaccine exists, but it is not completely effective, although taking the vaccine is the best prevention approach. Tetanus infection can lead to stiff muscles and breathing problems. Sometimes, the situation can get out of control and cause death. The essay discusses Clostridium Tetani, which is the bacterium that causes tetanus.
Background Description of the Clostridium Tetani
The Clostridium tetani bacterium is mostly found in manure and soil. Most people get the infection after being cut by different objects or pricked by some objects found in open environments that often have rust. The cuts of pricks from the contaminated objects often lead to the infection of the wound. The infected wounds situation that can be fatal if medical attention is not received as soon as possible. There are about thirty tetanus cases in the United States every year (Seite, 2016). These cases include people who have not gotten the vaccination against tetanus and also those who have not boosted their shots after a period of every ten years. The treatment of tetanus requires antibiotics and injections so that the toxins can be flushed out of the body completely. However, prevention is better than cure and people need to make sure that they get vaccinated against tetanus to reduce the epidemic.
History of Clostridium Tetani
The bacterium can cause death if the disease, tetanus, is not treated immediately. The word tetanus is derived from the Greek word tetanus, which is another word for stretch. Tetanus is characterized by the rigidity of muscles and affects mostly the CNS. The cause of the disease was discovered in the year 1844 by Carle and Rattone. In 1889, after five years, Kitasato, a student, separated the bacterium and proved that it caused illnesses when injected into animals (Yu et al., 2014). The spores of the C. tetani bacterium are found almost everywhere, including in the animal intestines and the soil, to mention a few. The bacterium is found almost everywhere around the globe but is commonly found in areas that are densely populated. To be specific, their habitat is in hot and wet areas that have a soil rich in organic matter. The organism is mainly transmitted through infected wounds like stepping on a rusted object. You will get the infection if the object has penetrated through the skin.
Diagnosis and Microbiological characteristics of Clostridium tetani
Clostridium tetani is an aerobic spore-forming bacterium. This organism has spores that look like a drumstick. The vegetative cells are shaped in the form of a rod and occur in pairs. The organism is Gram positive in growing cultures but can become Gram-negative during the sporulation process. It produces the toxin that reduces the effectiveness of the muscles by causing them to be stiff (Connan et al., 2013). The bacteria called Clostridium tetani further makes several endospores. The endospores produced by Clostridium tetani can survive for a long time when exposed to air. The bacteria can also survive other environmental conditions that seem hostile to other forms of bacteria. Clostridium tetani infect people through wound contamination. Microbiological diagnosis and other clinical signs such as cramps felt in the muscles, the pain felt in back spasms muscles and reductions in the arcuate body curvature. 
Pathogenicity/Toxicity
Tetanus is caused by Clostridium tetani but has four different ways of manifesting itself. These are local tetanus at the spot of infection, cephalic tetanus which is caused by infections and injuries to the head, generalized tetanus which is the most common infection with over 80% of the cases and neonatal tetanus which affects infants within the first four weeks after birth. This last tetanus infection is as a result of the umbilical cord being infected during the cutting process. C. tetani cause minor wounds that do not seem dangerous. After that, the organism releases TeNT, the neurotoxin (Morozova et al., 2013). The toxin spreads fast in the blood system and ends up the muscle reflexes. The toxin affects the neck and masseter muscles which cause rigidity of the neck and jaw spasms. Then the muscles involved in swallowing and respiration, among other muscles are also affected. In some cases, there can be kidney failure due to the rigidity of the muscles. In severe cases, death occurs within 48 hours because of respiratory failure, fatigue and sometimes, heart failure.
Epidemiology
Developed countries have lower incidences of tetanus. These cases have also been reducing over the years because of the introduction of effective vaccination programs that help protect people of all the age groups. In the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported multiple cases for people not older than sixty-five years between 2001 and 2008 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). There are over one million cases of tetanus that occur all over the world in one year. Canada is the least affected country since about ten tetanus cases have been reported every year with about five deaths in 24 years. Tetanus is most common in developing countries. The mortality rates have exceeded 50% with more about 60,000 people dying from neonatal cases in the year 2008 (Thwaites et al., 2015). Below is a tabulation of the frequency of the reported cases in the United States, globally and the type of wounds that are most likely to cause tetanus.
Reported Cases in the United States;
There has been a reduction of the reported cases over the years. This is because measures have been put in place to make sure that the people get the vaccines to protect them against the tetanus infection.
Reported Cases around the Globe
There are ab...