I had a cousin that my family always said died of tetanus just before I was born, but his older brother just told me a couple of months ago that he thought our families were wrong, because his brother had other symptoms that meant it couldn’t have been tetanus or not just tetanus. He is positive his family inherited an autoimmune condition from the maternal side of the family that I don’t have, because he has also been plagued with that autoimmune condition most of his life.
At the end of the day, they sent my worsening friend home from the ER and said it wasn’t tetanus. But their only reasoning was that her jaw wasn’t locked up. Her neck has been semi paralyzed for a couple days. She is in a lot of pain. The regular docs don’t know what it is or how to treat it. She needs a specialist. Tetanus is difficult to dx sometimes, plus she may be just beginning. She had to practically force them to give her the vaccine which can still help, when exposed. Her family had to show them the CDC website where it’s highly recommended.
The sand fleas have caused tungiasis, a fertile female buried in her spine under her skin, for days now, producing eggs. She has every symptom of tetanus except the fever and jaw locked. They said at the he end of today that she did not have it because jaws aren’t locked. But clearly she has a secondary infection from the tungiasis and needs help fast. First action was o surgically remove the bug which they did not do.
She has found a specialist at UCLA and I hope she can get in to him tomorrow.