| Popis: |
Background: Tetanus is an acute and potentially fatal disease caused by Clostridium tetani, an extremely resilient pathogen. Approximately 5% of all visits to the Emergency Department are due to traumatic wounds and Clostridium tetani can infect these. According to several surveillance programs, the incidence of clinical tetanus in Italy is tenfold higher than in other industrialised countries. In 2010, Italy accounted for 57 (77%) of the 74 confirmed cases reported within the European Union. We decided to conduct a study to assess the proportion of patients immunised against tetanus in the Emergency Department (ED). Methods: Data from patients who presented to the Emergency Department of the Fondazione IRRCS Policlinico San Matteo between April 2016 and November 2017 with wounds potentially at risk of infection with Clostridium tetani were analysed. Tetanus Quick Stick (TQS) was used to identify patients immunized again tetanus. Results: Of the total of 1094 patients included, 506 had all the necessary data for analysis. Of these, 432 patients (85%) had no protection against tetanus. When stratified for age, underimmunization was 92% in patients above 60 years, 81% in patients between 46 and 60 years, 80% in patients between 19 and 45 years and 73% in children up to 18 years. In patients above 60 years of age, men are less underimmunized than women (80 vs 96%, p = 0.0095). Conclusions: This study highlights a very low level of immunization against tetanus. This occurs at all age. It could explain the higher incidence of tetanus in Italy in comparison to other European countries. The analysed data suggests the need of conducting awareness campaigns to increase the percent of patients vaccinated against Clostridium tetani. |
