A few days ago, our neighborhood carpenter, Baba Tobi was found lying still on his mat by Mummy Semiu. She became inquisitive as to what might be wrong, as he is usually the playful type. So, she moved closer to ask him what was wrong, when she realized that he could not open his mouth, it was very stiff, and he was unable to swallow. I repeat, he could not swallow! Everyone in the compound was assuming that someone had done ‘Juju’ for him. Mama Ngozi was praying for him, caressing the beads on her rosary while reciting the “Mary Prayer”.

The youth corpers in our compound were standing in the shade beside the gateman house contemplating the cause of Baba Tobi’s condition. One of the corpers, Raina who was a nurse told the others that she was suspecting it could be Tetanus.

“Tetanus ke?” Aruba the bus driver exclaimed, indicating that he was eavesdropping on their conversation. “Ordinary tetanus, something that you’ll just injure and your leg will swell up small. Just drink agbo and rub aboniki, abi?” he hissed and stood up from the floor where he had been sitting and started walking away. “Madam nurse, you no sabi your work”
Raina shook her head, stood up and walked to the ancient broken bench where everyone had their monthly meetings. She said,

“Let me tell you - Tetanus is a serious illness caused by the spores of the bacterium Clostridium tetanus. This bacterium is present in the soil, rusted nail, saliva etc. This bacterium can enter the body through a deep cut in the skin either by a nail, insect bite, splinters or burns affecting the nervous system.You see, this illness called tetanus is present mostly in people that are not vaccinated or haven’t completed their vaccinations.”
Aruba interjects “how does this one concern Baba Tobi?”
“You know Baba Tobi is a carpenter. He must have injured himself on a rusted nail in the shop. When you are infected with the bacterium, it takes like 5-21 days for symptoms to appear. You will see symptoms like jaw cramping or inability to open the mouth, muscle spasm often in the back, abdomen and extremities; that is the legs and arms.”

“All these?! just because of Tetanus!” Mama Ngozi exclaimed.

“That’s not all. There are other symptoms like stiffening of the neck muscles, difficulty swallowing, seizures, headache, fever and sweating, changes in blood pressure or fast heart rate. And these symptoms are seen in people who aren't vaccinated or haven't completed their vaccinations”.
“Infact, because of these symptoms there are some complications that can arise”
“Complications again? The jaw cramping is it not a complication” Rufus, the gateman asked.
“No oh. That one is a symptom, the complications we see are broken bones, pulmonary embolism which is where the artery in your lung will be blocked by a blood clot and finally, death due to lack of oxygen from respiratory failure”

“How do we treat this?” Aruba asked.

“Because this condition is an emergency, we need to call The Ambulance Company to come assist with emergency first aid.

“Nurse, abeg where i go take the vaccine?” Aruba asked, while everyone echoed, the same question indicating their interest.

Don’t worry! The Ambulance Company has got everything covered!

Clostridium tetani is one of my projects topict, we have about five spices of it e.g clostridium botulinum ( causes food poisoning) but Nigeria discourage education and education prowess. Clostridium and mycobacterium are of the spore producing bacteria am scare of.

I have seen it all

Tetanus also known as lock jaw is very deadly. As soon as one step on a rusted nail bare footed or gets a deep cut from rusted nail, then next thing should be to get that tetanus injection or else 6 feets below.