Does diabetes put you at risk of tetanus

Abstract

This 81-year-old man with a history of type 2 diabetes presented with a cramping right arm, trismus, stiffness in the jaw, swallowing and breathing difficulties. He developed respiratory failure shortly after admission so was intubated on the intensive therapy unit where he received tetanus immunoglobulin and a course of metronidazole. Kilic et al. compared the level of tetanus antitoxin between patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy controls. They found a statistically significant difference between the groups, with people with diabetes having lower antitoxin levels. A further study shows that serum levels of tetanus antibody significantly decrease in diabetic patients older than 50 years of age. Among patients with diabetes only 55.9% had protective levels of antitoxin when aged 50-64 compared to 73.8% of controls. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.