Tetanus and rust

[JayEddie]

Just to clarify something for the masses, tetanus doesn't come from rust, it comes from the soil that rusty nails usually hide in. So what that means, is that unless the razor blades that you're worried about have been in the ground, the little bit of rust on the surface (unless it's the edge of course) doesn't mean anything.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001640/

 

[aaaargh]

Not to mention, we should all be immune to tetanus anyway, provided you live in the developed world and had a booster in the last 10 years.

 

[crackerman]

Good advice but remember not every one comes from the developed world at first and how many people really get the tetnus shot every ten years. I only remembered to get mine when my son was born last year when I got the whooping cough combo vaccine that has tetnus in it. This thread is a good reminder for everyone to check your records and see when you last got one.

 

[chado006]

Thanks for the information. I always thought that tetanus could be in any rust that occurs. I'll be checking my records for when I got my booster last. In the meantime, I won't be worrying anyways because I don't think any of my blades have been in contact with dirt.

 

[dlegros]

The risk with rust is it provides a rough surface for the tetanus bacilli to breed, as Jay points out - tetanus grows in soil; so a rusty nail in the ground is a perfect vector for it.

As regards vaccination, I don't know the current position of US authorities, but in the UK the advice is that after 5 vaccinations you are covered for life (as per the Dept. of Health "Green Book" on vaccination).

That said we still tend to use the vaccine far more than we should in the UK.

 

[Quintar]

The risk with rust is it provides a rough surface for the tetanus bacilli to breed, as Jay points out - tetanus grows in soil; so a rusty nail in the ground is a perfect vector for it.

It's not that it provides a rough surface, though that may be of some benefit, the Clostridium tetani baterium is anaerobic and rust provides an oxygen free environment for the bacteria to gorw.

 

[Kailand09]

Note, though, that the tetani bacterium doesn't solely live in dirt. It is all over the place, but most prevalent and robust in dirt/feces.

 

[Wingnut]

The depth and breadth of knowledge in this place NEVER ceases to amaze me!

 

[Memphis]

good to read. My dogs bowl has a two tiny tiny rust spots, about the size of a pin head on the bottom of them