Unvaccinated Ontario Child Develops Dangerous Tetanus Infection; Mumps Outbreak Also Reported

TORONTO — News that an unvaccinated Ontario boy is in hospital with a dangerous tetanus infection is prompting calls from worried parents seeking information on how to get their children vaccinated.

 

A spokesperson says the Grey Bruce health authority has had numerous inquiries since word of the case hit the news over the weekend.

 

Dr. Christine Kennedy says the unidentified six-year old is improving and has been moved out of the intensive care unit.

 

The child had not been vaccinated against tetanus, which causes a painful and life-threatening condition better known as lockjaw.

 

Though once more common, tetanus is now rare because most people are vaccinated against it.

 

Meanwhile, health authorities in Guelph, Ont., are investigating an outbreak of mumps among students of two local high schools. Mumps is also preventable by vaccination.

 

Kennedy says tetanus kills about 20 per cent of children who contract it, even if they get early treatment.

 

The infection is caused by exposure to spores of a bacterium called Clostridium tetani. The spores are widely found in soil, dust and manure, and trigger infection when they enter the body through a cut or wound.

 

Children are supposed to get four doses of vaccine containing tetanus protection at age 18 months, then at two, four and six years. The vaccine also protects against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), hemophilus influenzae type B and polio.

 

Adults need tetanus booster shots every 10 years.

 

Kennedy says everyone needs to be vaccinated against tetanus because the disease is not one where so-called herd immunity can develop.

 

When high levels of children are immunized against some diseases — mumps, for instance — you would not expect to see many cases because enough people are protected that the disease cannot spread.

 

But tetanus doesn't spread from person to person; it is transmitted when a vulnerable person is exposed to bacteria. That means that even if 95 per cent of children were vaccinated, the remaining five per cent would still be at risk.

 

In reality, the vaccination rate is not that high. Kennedy says 79.7 per cent of seven-year-olds in Ontario are fully vaccinated against tetanus.