If a patient is scratched by nails, needles, etc., tetanus vaccination is usually required for the purpose of tetanus prevention.
When the patient’s local skin and mucous membrane are scratched by nails, needles, etc., the skin lesions are prone to form an anaerobic microenvironment, and Clostridium tetani is an anaerobic bacterium, which is prone to enter the human body through the skin and mucous membrane breaks, inducing tetanus disease. Therefore, when a patient is scratched, he or she needs to seek timely medical treatment for tetanus vaccination, so as to prevent tetanus disease.
Some patients may experience adverse reactions such as redness, swelling, pain and low fever at the injection site after tetanus vaccination. Tetanus vaccination is contraindicated if the patient is suffering from serious illness, fever, neurological reaction after tetanus toxoid injection, or history of drug allergy to prevent accidents.
It is recommended that the person who has been scratched should actively treat the wound and consult a regular hospital for tetanus vaccination. If scratched by animal claws, in addition to tetanus vaccine, rabies vaccine is also required.