What causes tetanus? Is it a serious disease? Why do doctors insist on jabbing everyone who has a cut with a tetanus shot?
A bacteria called Clostridium tetani can live quite harmlessly in the gut of many animals, particularly horses. When it passes out of their bodies in faeces it forms a hard microscopic cyst which then contaminates the soil and waits for a chance to return to active life. The bacteria can remain inactive for many years until it enters a cut or wound in the dirt of dust that may be around when the tissues are exposed.
Once it has infected a cut, it starts multiplying and produces a chemical which is absorbed into the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. This chemical (a toxin) attacks the small muscles used for chewing our food, making it difficult to open the mouth. Thus the common name for tetanus is lockjaw. The toxin gradually attacks larger and larger muscles, irritating them and causing them to go into severe spasm.
These spasms are similar to the cramps you may experience in your leg at night, except they are more severe and can attack every muscle in your body. The patient remains conscious throughout the disease, but eventually the muscles which control breathing and the heart are affected, and the patient dies.
There are very few effective treatments for tetanus, because although the bacteria may be killed, the toxin remains in the body. Tetanus can be prevented by vaccination, but it cannot be cured.

Should an adult man have a mumps vaccine if he has never had the disease?
Yes. Children should have a mumps vaccine at one and five years of age, so it is now an uncommon condition, but if an adult catches the disease, it is usually more severe than in a child.
If an adult (man or woman) has not had mumps, a vaccine that has minimal side effects is available to give life-long protection. Most general practitioners would carry a supply of this vaccine, and so it is a very simple matter to obtain protection.
Mumps seems to have the unfortunate ability to strike just before your annual holidays or at some other vital time, so for this reason alone it is worthwhile being protected. In addition, the testes of men and ovaries of women may be affected by a severe case of mumps. This complication is not common, but may lead to sterility in both men and women.

Should I give my baby the diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus vaccinations, or are the side effects dangerous?
All children should receive the full course of vaccines to protect them against these serious diseases unless there are very good medical grounds not to use them.
Unfortunately, some parents through ignorance or ill-informed advice are not vaccinating their children, and the diseases of whooping cough and diphtheria are increasing in the community.
Tetanus is always with us, and is potentially able to infect any wound. All three diseases may be fatal, may cause brain damage and may cause chronic ill health.
The risk of vaccination is infinitesimal, and when compared to the potential side effects of any one of these diseases, it is a far preferable course of action. Another person (adult or child) only has to breathe the infecting germs in the direction of your child and he or she may catch one of these dread diseases. Please vaccinate your child now!

I have never heard of any child catching whooping cough, but my doctor is insisting that my baby has this vaccine. Is whooping cough vaccination still necessary?
There is no treatment available to cure this distressing disease, but it may be completely prevented. Even so, increasingly large numbers of children are being left unprotected because their parents forget to obtain the necessary course of injections, or are poorly informed.
Whooping cough is not a disease of the past. Hundreds of Australian children contract the disease every year, and many of them die or are left as invalids. The bacteria that causes the infection is widespread in the community, and adults may have the disease and consider it merely a cold. Only in young children is the disease severe, and it is therefore important to start vaccinations as early as possible.
The vaccination against whooping cough is invatiably combined with those for tetanus and diphtheria, and is given at two, four, six and 18 months of age. This triple vaccine has minimal side effects, and the most common ones are a slight fever for 6 to 24 hours after the needle, and sometimes prolonged crying. Any other risks are minimal, and certainly far rarer than the serious complications of any of these three diseases.
If the child has a fever or other illness, the vaccination may be delayed for a few days until he or she has recovered. The only children who should not be vaccinated are those with febrile convulsions, a history of epilepsy and allergies to certain elements of the vaccine.