Tetanus shot may be gardener's best tool

Gardening is generally considered a low-risk activity, more likely to stiffen your muscles than to threaten your life — yard play with chain saws aside.

But a potential killer lurks in rich garden soil, fragrant manure, compost and potting mixes, and a scratch or puncture wound is all it needs to launch a hostile takeover of your nervous system. It's tetanus, the bacteria Clostridium tetani.

The classic tetanus-inducing mishap is stepping on a rusty nail, but landscaping and yard work actually account for about a third of the cases reported in the United States.

Puncture wounds can occur in any number of ways. Stabbing yourself with the rough edges of wire fencing, piercing your hands with sharp thorns, getting careless with a pitchfork or picking up a splinter are all in a day's gardening. While 50 percent of tetanus cases involved puncture wounds, 33 percent followed cuts and 9 percent followed scrapes.

An acute case of tetanus is a terrible thing. Lockjaw, one of the symptoms, causes excruciating muscle spasms and seizures. Complications include breathing, heart and kidney problems. Even in the United States today, fatality rates among victims run as high as 18 percent.

While the consequences of tetanus are dreadful, prevention is easy — get a tetanus booster every 10 years.

Don't let your next gardening wound be a matter of life and death. Pick up the phone, check on the date of your last shot and book an appointment if you need one.