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tetanus Definition

teta·nus (tet'n əs, tetnəs)

noun

  1. an acute infectious disease, often fatal, caused by the specific toxin of a bacillus (Clostridium tetani) which usually enters the body through wounds: it is characterized by spasmodic contractions and rigidity of some or all of the voluntary muscles, esp. of the jaw, face, and neck; lockjaw
  2. Physiol. the state of continuous contraction of a muscle, esp. when caused experimentally by a series of rapidly repeated stimuli

Etymology: L < Gr tetanos, spasm (of muscles), lit., stretched < base of teinein: see thin

tetanus Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • cause: Bacteria getting into the body through a wound, or through injecting drugs cause tetanus.
  • develop: For the developing world tetanus is a major challenge with a high mortality among all age groups.
  • include: They may also be complicated by a range of bacterial infections including tetanus.
  • get: I might bleed too much, stain my bedclothes, get tetanus, have a poorly healing open wound or any number of nasties.
  • generalize: Rare symptom that may progress to generalized tetanus with similar risks.
  • have: What should I do if I think my horse has tetanus?

Adjective modifier

  • neonatal: In addition, neonatal tetanus kills 200,000 infants in the first month of life every year - nearly a quarter of these in India.
  • severe: Sudden cardiac death is a feature of severe tetanus.
  • traumatic: The second tetanus type is traumatic tetanus, which is also referred to in England as " lockjaw " .
  • ordinary: He stated that death from idiopathic tetanus was rare in this country and that ordinary tetanus in this country was traumatic tetanus.

Modifies a noun

  • toxoid: The disease can be prevented by immunization with tetanus toxoid or the use of antitoxin which is routinely carried out in horses.
  • antitoxin: Where tetanus has become established, antibodies are used to work against the poison ( known as tetanus antitoxins ).
  • jab: Make sure your tetanus jabs are up to date.
  • immunoglobulin: This is achieved by treatment with intravenous tetanus immunoglobulin.
  • toxin: The vaccine encodes a strong immune alert signal from Fragment C from tetanus toxin.
  • immunization: A full course of tetanus immunization consists of five doses of vaccine.

Noun used with modifier

  • rat: Investigation of the neuronal aggregate generating seizures in the rat tetanus toxin model of epilepsy.

Browse dictionary entries near tetanus

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