4 ms·
I grew up when antibiotics were a thing, and it was well known that puncture wounds from something like a nail needed immediate treatment because of risk of tet
by matwood 3y ago
I grew up when antibiotics were a thing, and it was well known that puncture wounds from something like a nail needed immediate treatment because of risk of tetanus. Wounds from an animal also needed treatment because of the potential for rabies.
- alexdbird 3y ago> Wounds from an animal also needed treatment because of the potential for rabies. I think it's relevant that this is a UK story. No one would think of the potential for rabies here as it was eradicated before most were born. Unless you're handling bats, which you shouldn't be doing as a rule.
- lm28469 3y ago> something like a nail needed immediate treatment because of risk of tetanus. Which is funny because nails, or anything metal really, have nothing to do with tetanus, not more than wood, glass, plastic, &c.
- ASalazarMX 3y agoI think the issue is rusty nails. Their texture is very porous (excellent habitat for bacteria) and brittle (likely to leave fragment embedded). It isn't that iron is pathogenic, but that nails inflict deep wounds, and inject many pathogens from the environment. Needle/cutlery punctures, for example, are not associated with tethanus because they aren't rusty or in close contact with decaying matter.
- CatWChainsaw 3y agoIt's the puncture that's the key, not the nail. Clostridium tetani spores are ubiquitous in the soil and become capable of tetanus once they're in an anaerobic environment - and about 98% of oxygen in blood is bound to hemoglobin.
- ASalazarMX 3y agoA few generations ago, rural people in my country still used cobwebs, brick dust, or kerosene, to treat small but deep wounds. Child mortality was significantly higher then, of course.