[neverdem]

Pardon me, but tetanus is caused by the bacterial species called Clostridium Tetani which produces a neurotoxin that causes painful muscular contractions. It is not caused by a virus. I think you can look it up. I just confirmed it by referencing a medical dictionary.

This just shows how ignorant the "media" are when discussing serious matters. They do excel at fear mongering. The DPT vaccine protects against that threat in pediatric patients, and for those older than seven years old, a different vaccine uses Td as it's name. In both cases, the capital "T" refers to tetanus due to the aforementioned bacterial species.

[struwwelpeter]

True, the DPT contains a tetanus "toxoid" which should confer immunity to the toxin. If that don't work, anti-toxin is only $1.59 for 1500 IU at the feed store ;-)

[PurVirgo]

you know what though? I would never have thought that tetanus could be viable as a threat, because so many people are vaccinated, at some point in their life

But you are correct - the media's ignorance panders to public panic. Now, the Hep B outbreak in Pennsylvania is a worthy matter for media to cover, but I think I've seen a total of one news story on it. Granted, I live in Texas, but still...