could i have tetanus??? - Open to All Other Health Topics Message Board

Peterfrank · 04-12-2005, 03:07 AM

hey,
the other day i was playing with an old brown army knife, it hadnt been used to cut for year and years but i was using it and i had no visible rust on my hands but after that without washing my hands i picked this tinny pimple on my forhead it was really bleeding much just a tinny bit. could i get tetanus from this,? i havnt had a tetanus shot since about 9 years ago when i was in pre-primary i am now yr 10. i havnt really had any side effects or symptoms jsut a little bit of problems breathing but i think this could be because of concertrating on breathing, if i had tetanus would i know i had it would it show very noticable symtoms?. its now about 3 days later should i see a doctor?

Sunlover · 04-12-2005, 04:54 AM

I really think that it would get infected locally first, THEN it would spread and you'd get systemic symptoms. If the pimple looks healed I'd forget about it. How many times do people get cuts and don't clean them (I never do!) I'd worry about it if the knife was dirty (doesn't necessarily have to be rust) and you jabbed yourself with it and it didn't bleed (that usually cleanses it and stops bacteria from getting inside your system). However, tetanus shots are good for 10 years (unless they changed that rule!), and you probably could get one for another 10 years of protection. This way if say in 3 years you jab yourself with a filthy stick, you are protected...