Tetanus
Symptoms
Sometimes, the first and only sign of tetanus is a spasm of the muscles nearest to the infected wound. However, once the toxin gets into your bloodstream, other symptoms start, usually in the face. The most common early sign is a spasm of the chewing muscles which makes it very hard to open your mouth (hence the common name of 'lockjaw').
Spasms can then occur in your throat muscles, making it difficult to swallow. This can be followed by spasms in the facial muscles which make you look as though you are grinning.
The spasms may also spread to other muscles: to the neck making the head tilt; to the chest, making breathing difficult; to the stomach wall and to arms and legs. If the spasms spread to the back muscles, the spine may become strongly arched backwards. This is most common in children with the infection.
Other symptoms include extreme sensitivity to touch, high fever, sore throat, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, headache, bleeding into the bowels, and diarrhoea.
The direct cause of death may be blood poisoning, suffocation (asphyxia) because of the muscle spasms, the heart stopping (cardiac arrest), kidney failure or exhaustion.
If left untreated, death occurs in around 60% of cases.