Clostridium Tetani Essay Example

dosage and a wound occurs, another dose should be administered. C. tetani gains entry through skin wounds and produces two exotoxins known as tetanolysin and tetanospasmin. There are eleven strains of C.tetani which differ mainly in flagellar antigens but share genes that produce identical toxins on a plasmid; however, tetanolysin doesn't benefit C.etani. The neurotoxin known as tetanospasmin results in clinical symptoms associated with tetanus and is produced by living bacteria during spore germination or vegetative growth; minimal amounts of both spore germination and vegetative cell growth are required for toxin production to occur. Among toxins, Tetanospasmin has one of the lowest human lethal doses with approximately175 nanograms being lethal for humans weighing about70 kg (154 lbs) or having a minimum lethal human dose of about 2.5 nanograms per kilogram body weight.Although Botulinum toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum and the exotoxin created by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, which causes diphtheria, have similar structures to Tetanospasmin, they are more hazardous to humans. However, Tetanospasmin is different from Botulinum toxin since it relies on zinc metalloproteinase for its function. C. tetani produces a single 150kDa polypeptide progenitor toxin known as Tetanospasmin that can be cleaved into fragment A (a 50kDa "light chain") and fragment B (a 100 kDa "heavy chain") via a protease or trypsin-induced fragmentation through a disulfide bridge connection. After being transported to the central nervous system via nerve axons from the host's blood and lymphatic system, Tetanospasmin attaches to gangliosides at presynaptic junctions of inhibitory motor nerve endings affecting various sites within the central nervous and sympathetic nervous systems. Clinical symptoms involve unopposed muscle contraction and spasm, risus sardonicus, trismus, opisthotonus seizures along with autonomic nervous

system effects when inhibitory impulses are blocked.To prevent tetanus infection; an initial vaccine regimen comprising shots given at 2,4 ,6 months of age recommended with booster before entering school followed by every ten years afterward for lifelong immunity must be administered since C.tetani infection cannot provide complete protection against it.It is crucial to administer tetanus vaccination after stabilizing the patient upon diagnosing tetanus infection. This disease is not contagious but only infectious, making it the only vaccine-preventable disease that falls into this category.