After being pecked by it, the woman was in critical condition and was admitted to the ICU!

it is known

Cat or dog bites and scratches

Rabies vaccination is required

This must be taken seriously.

But if it is

What about being pecked by birds, chickens or other poultry ?

Image source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Many people may feel

It's just a small matter

No need to take it to heart

If you have such an idea

That's totally wrong.

A woman was pecked by a chicken and was admitted to the ICU in critical condition
In early November 2023, Ms. Liu from Foshan, Guangdong was unfortunately pecked on her right heel by a chicken . She thought it was just a trivial matter, but unexpectedly, 8 days later she developed severe symptoms such as limited mouth opening, stiff neck, and difficulty swallowing .

Image source: Gaoding Design

Her family rushed her to the hospital for emergency treatment, where she was diagnosed with tetanus . Her condition was critical and she was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital's infectious disease department.

After a series of emergency treatments, including passive immunization with tetanus antitoxin and human tetanus immunoglobulin, as well as comprehensive treatments such as surgical debridement, anti-infection, and antispasmodics, Ms. Liu's condition was gradually brought under control.

On November 21, 2023, Ms. Liu had frequent convulsions, difficulty breathing, and decreased blood oxygen , and the medical team diagnosed her with **severe tetanus. After treatment and tracheotomy, her oxygenation improved, but she still had repeated convulsions and developed multiple complications such as hypoxic encephalopathy, lung infection, and difficulty defecating**.

Fortunately, after the medical team adjusted the treatment plan several times, Ms. Liu was finally out of danger.

What is tetanus?
Rescue, amputation, death... The fatal disease that is always associated with these terrifying words is tetanus.
Tetanus refers to an acute infectious disease in which Clostridium tetani invades the human body through skin or mucous membrane wounds, grows and multiplies in an oxygen-deficient environment, produces toxins and causes paroxysmal muscle spasms.

Image source: Nanning CDC

The toxin attacks the patient's nervous system , causing symptoms such as clenched jaws, paroxysmal spasms and tonic spasms .

Tetanus can be divided into three types according to the length of the incubation period and the severity of the patient's condition:

• Mild: The incubation period is more than 10 days, symptoms develop gradually within 4 to 7 days, muscle spasms occur less than 3 times a day, trismus and neck muscle stiffness are both mild, and there is no difficulty in swallowing or respiratory distress.

  Medium type: The incubation period is 7 to 10 days. Symptoms develop to a peak in 3 to 6 days, with obvious trismus, dysphagia and respiratory distress, and transient systemic muscle spasms occurring > 3 times a day.

• Severe: The incubation period is less than 7 days. Symptoms reach a peak within 3 days. There is persistent rigidity of the muscles of the whole body accompanied by frequent attacks of muscle spasms, clenched jaws, opisthotonos, difficulty breathing or suffocation. There may also be high fever, sweating, tachycardia, increased blood pressure, cold extremities, etc. The mortality rate is extremely high.

These types of wounds must be paid attention to. Generally speaking, Clostridium tetani infects humans under three conditions:
1. The most common route of infection is open tissue injury and deep wounds of the skin and mucous membranes . There are also some less common routes of infection, such as epidermal wounds, open fractures, chronic wounds, etc.

Image source: Gaoding Design

2. ****Tetanus infection is caused by the invasion of Clostridium tetani from the outside world . It is usually caused by wounds caused by contaminated objects , wounds contaminated by soil, feces, and sputum, puncture wounds caused by rusty nails or needles, burns, crush injuries, and injuries caused by fireworks and firecrackers.

3. There is devitalized tissue or local tissue ischemia and hypoxia in the wound

The deeper the contaminated wound, the less oxygen there will be . In this anaerobic environment, the spores of Clostridium tetani will quickly grow into proliferative bodies, releasing exotoxins and causing disease.

There are also a small number of patients whose wounds are small and hidden . In addition, the incubation period from infection with Clostridium tetani to onset of the disease is often about one to two weeks . Therefore, they are often ignored by patients, leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment, resulting in serious consequences.

Doctor's reminder

Wounds caused by bird pecking are contaminated wounds with a high chance of tetanus infection . Other injuries that occur in life, especially those accompanied by contaminated and deep wounds, should be treated by medical attention in a timely manner and the wounds should be properly treated.

Image source: Gaoding Design

After evaluation by a doctor, tetanus vaccine should be administered or tetanus antitoxin, immunoglobulin and other drugs should be used for prevention.