Can You Actually Get Tetanus From Stepping on a Rusty Nail?

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[deoge]

My great grandmother gave me a crippling fear of stepping on a rusty nail and getting lock jaw. Not sometimes...or most of the time...no, EVERY single time I went to play I got the warning. Sadly...I heard it the last time when I was around 12. Never thought that would b something I'd ever miss hearing.

[ehrichweiss]

Can you get it that way? Yes. Are you more likely to get it by digging in the dirt? Yes. I am up on my DTAP(or whatever they call it today) and I always have a convo about why I'm getting vaccinated, etc. with the pharmacist, and this is one of the topics. When I was working in HVAC I was always being exposed to nails that stick through a roof or floor and so I got my shot to prevent anything, well, preventable, and in the process learned that I didn't have to worry nearly as much about a rusty nail as gardening.

[brosevideogames]

When I was maybe 9 years old, I stepped on a rusty nail, impaled my foot all the way through. As soon as I felt it, I jumped back off the nail, and looked down to see it sticking up out of a board on the ground, covered in blood. Luckily, it managed to pass straight through without breaking any bones or damaging anything important, so other than a couple days of slight soreness, my fully-impaled foot miraculously turned out to be no more consequential than an everyday minor scrape or cut. But because my dad had told me about lockjaw, I will always remember looking at that nail, realizing what had happened, and truly believing I was going to die in a few days. But we went to the hospital and the doctor was like, “I mean, you’ve got to have had your tetanus shot, right? So yeah, that’s not a thing.”

[imlistening]

While working as an RN in central Texas (approximately 1988-89), I cared for a patient who contracted tetanus and was diagnosed possibly too late for the anti-toxin to be effective, although she received it and we were hopeful. If it turned out that the disease had progressed too far for a good outcome from said anti-toxin, she would eventually require paralytics and mechanical ventilation, hence she was placed in ICU upon admission to the hospital. I was on duty when I heard her primary nurse yell out for help. The patient had been alert, talking and eating, etc. normally that first day and into the next. But on this day, all of a sudden, her facial, jaw and arm muscles tightened to the point that the endotracheal tube (ET tube, or breathing tube which would be hooked up to the ventilator) could not be placed even nasally. An anesthesiologist came and, with considerable worry, gave her the paralytic meds IV prior to inserting the ET tube. This is worrisome because these meds also paralyze the diaphragm and breathing stops. But within seconds, he was able to place the ET tube nasally (to prevent her from biting it if the meds wore off unexpectedly). She remained in the ICU for several weeks, then went through weeks of physical therapy, but eventually returned home. She was in her 60s and an avid gardener.

[misternoodle]

When I was four, I went in a wooded area behind my house (a large distance away from the house) with a friend and stepped on a rusty nail. I screamed and someone who lived on the other side of the wooded area found me. They carried me home and demanded that I go get treated and get a tetanus shot. My parents tried to downplay it because of money but the lady who found me threatened to call CPS over it. My parents took me to the doctor begrudgingly and I got my tetanus shot a bit earlier than expected that day! My doctor was NOT happy with my parents for trying to go without, especially considering I actually got sick (probably something else from the nail) a week or so later.
I was later told not to go into the wooded area anymore because the lady was "a bad person" and might kidnap me. I was taught to dislike her, but looking back, she saved me and should have been a warning of what my life would become.

[fragamar]

I'm not sure I would call stepping on a rusty nail "minor". it freaking hurts

[ColonelSanders]

"I once was an adventurer like you, till I took a rusty nail to the knee."

[DerptyDerptyDUM]

I stepped on a rusty nail in high school that went through my sneaker and slightly into my foot. I had recently had a tetanus shot and it didn't seem too bad, so we didn't do anything about it for a few days. Then when I went to the doctor to make sure I didn't need antibiotics, they said that I actually needed to go to the hospital for *a week* to be on intense intravenous antibiotics. Apparently the rusty nail wasn't the problem, it was the fact that it had potentially pushed the adhesive from my sneaker sole into my foot which can cause a very serious bacterial infection. Fun anecdotal fact! 🧠

[kreature]

Yep, I agree that avoiding stepping on sharp metal objects and that includes rusty nails is a good advice.
I stepped on one 6 days ago and it almost went in 1". I can testify to it not being pleasant regardless of Tetanus. And yes, I had to boost my vaccination.

[dusseau]

I got tetanus from stepping on a nail in the early 1960s. My doctor said I was within a couple hours of losing my foot. The massive dose of penicillin kept me at rest in an easy chair for a week. I was about 10 years old and chasing my sister who stole my shoe.

[st.anselmsfire]

Neonatal tetanus: yet another reminder for new prospective parents to keep up on their own vaccinations for the sake of the kids.

[DJ_Cowboy]

I stepped on a rusty nail when working at a haunted house. Worked about 4 hours after. Then went to the hospital and discovered a red line about 6 inches long. Got a tetanus shot. They said I had blood poisoning and almost lost my foot.

[adirondacker]

I nearly died at 12 from an allergic reaction to a tetanus shot. I was informed at the time that another tetanus shot will put me under the sod. I discussed it with my general practitioner some years ago and he told me that the bacteria that causes tetanus doesn't stand a chance against my immune system. Makes sense, since I've worked with metals most of my life... I started to learn welding at 12, actually. I've been cut countless times over the years and never had a problem. As I post this, I have a cut from a steel stud on my right wrist from a few days ago and a spot on my right hand that got ripped up a bit from a wrench slipping on a stuck grinder wheel yesterday.
My biggest problem with tetanus was an overzealous quack who insisted on giving me a tetanus shot after cutting my hand with a literally brand new utility knife blade. I explained to him that I was allergic. He basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about and loaded a needle. I explained the facts to him at that point...
Told him I had clearly informed him of a life-threatening alergy to tetanus shots and that any attempt on his part to administer said shot would be considered a deliberate attempt on my life and dealt with decisively. That opened his ears.

[Uhlbelk]

One aspect of the "nail" issue, is that most superficial wounds are easily washed out and are exposed to air. Anaerobe need to be free of oxygen and a puncture wound, or a wound that is sealed tight provide the oxygen free environment for the bacteria.

[vincejamison]

I'm a residential framing carpenter.
A nail in your foot is not NEARLY as bad as a nail in your knee cap. (Driven by nail gun)

[sophroniel]

My great great grandfather actually died of "stelkramp", aka lockjaw/tetanus, in 1919 in Sweden.

He was born in 1843 in the same place he died (in Värmland, about as west as you can go in Sweden before you're in Norway instead). He was, almost ironically, a ships' navigator for 40 years, dealing with the many rusted metals one indubitably was surrounded by in late 19th century seafaring, but once he left the navy, he returned to his wife and children to change his vocation to agriculture, taking over, as the eldest son, the large farm & timber producer, industry which had been previously run by only his brother and their deceased father, all on land that the family had held for generations by then.

In 1919 (age 76) he had been refusing to retire for years, as many menfolk in my family still seem to like doing), and thus he continued to take care of quite physically demanding jobs, and general farm labouring (that he probably was realistically too old to be doing).

Whilst scything an overgrown field of late summer grasses on his Värmland fields during a warm bright day in mid August, his grip on the handle slipped or he tripped (it isn't clear because by the time he told someone the illness had already kicked in), but regardless of the specifics, he appeared to have sliced his arm quite badly in the process of doing so. He, seemingly unbothered, bandaged it himself and insisted he treat its healing by himself, refusing any other assistance, brushing off his wife, employees, and even his injured son--and the literal medical doctor who was staying with them, as he was looking after said son....

... AND, SPEAKING OF THIS SON, AS AN ASIDE, he was Mr Scything Sensation's 2nd youngest son, and as mentioned was himself still recovering from an injury.... and what was this injury, you ask? Oh, nothing too terrible, just being literally shot in the heart at the battle of the Somme, and lying in the mud for three days before someone kicked him and said "Oi, , boys, we got a living one!". As it happened, sadly this 2nd-youngest son was also the only one of his four brothers to survive WW1: and, as it turns out, was also my great grandfather.

He was born in 1884 and, as I'm talking to you today, he obviously did survive this minor "being shot in the heart" business, though it took him some time to recover, and a few operations to rebuild and heal his core muscles, along with other injuries and infections he'd acquired during the war. The shrapnel actually stayed there for the rest of his life, 2 mm from his heart, as it was too dangerous to remove, and he didn't die until 1960... and yes, to those who are counting out these years and wondering how it all adds up, his wife, my great grandmother, was 29 years younger than him (similar to her own parents'... excessive age gap, shall we say) and she was born in 1908, thus ofc outlived him, dying at the age of 97. I even knew her quite well as a result, which all explains how there are seemingly too few generations here--or, at least, fewer than you would expect for someone in their twenties in 2022, aka me--generations between me and my 3-greats grandfather, who was born an almost uncomfortably long time ago, in 1790.

I bring these dates up because, not only because, as Simon often says, "the past is the worst", but because the past is also totally weird, and this is interesting to me so probably interesting to others too.

Consider how many generations there are between, for example, Queen Victoria and Prince George, son of Prince William, and you'll get a better idea of what I mean... the answer is eight generations, aka Queen Victoria is Prince George's 5 -greats grandmother, and she was only born in and then there is my own 3 - greats grandfather, father of Mr Lockjaw, who was born in 1790, when King George III was monarch. More applicable is prob more the swedish royal family, as these folks were all swedes, so if anyone even cares, my 3-greats grandfather was born under the reign of Gustav III, and my great grandfather, the one who fought in WW1 and was still recovering when his father died of lockjaw? He was born under King Oskar II.) .

So, back to my fool-hardy, recklessly-scythe-happy great great grandpop, he just waved everyone off, saying they were fussing, and he assured doctor and the rest of his employees, farmhands, servants, and basically his entire household, that this was just a flesh wound, nothing to worry about, saying over and over that he was fine, and he just shewed everyone away again, whenever they attempted to even clean the wound. Then, in a totally unforseen turning of the tables, something that no one could've ever predicted, happened: instead of being fine, he actually proceeded to die of lockjaw/tetanus, a mere fortnight after his gung-ho attempt at radical inter-war lawn maintenance... much to the intense frustration and annoyance of his entire family (and their family friend, the doctor) and all of his many descendants, when they learn of the story. Sure, they were sad, but based on his wife's and son's letters and diary entries we've since found, most people were just annoyed, and said he got what he deserved for being so stubborn to the point of stupidity.... which I know I shouldn't find funny, but it kinda is, ngl.

The moral of this story? Idk. Take your resident grumpy old Swedish man to the doctor's, even if you have to trick him into doing so? Don't scythe recklessly? Live after the tetanus vaccine was invented? All of the above, probably.

[AcmeRacing]

I had a conversation with my former GP about getting a tetanus booster. He asked if I spend time in hundred-year-old barns, because my risk would be low. I told him my friend has a 250 year old colonial-era barn, and yes we work in there sometimes.

[xenos_n.]

Thanks, Simon. You and your team make some of the most interesting and educational videos on YouTube.

[SiiriCressey]

My maternal grandfather survived a bout of tetanus. It was terrible. He was a farmer, + had been handling dirty, manure-covered water pipes bare handed.

[wolfmobile]

As a member of this exclusive 'Steeped on Rusty Nail' club, the first thing doctors did was hit me up with the tetanus shot. Then 4 weeks of not being able to walk. Good times.