Clostridium Tetani Essay

Clostridium tetani is a bacillus, or rod-shaped bacteria responsible for the often-fatal disease tetanus. The word tetanus originated from the Greek word tetanos, which means to ‘stretch’. It is a Gram-positive bacterium and often appears to be shaped like a tennis racket, drumstick, or club when stained. This unusual appearance is the result of sporulation that occurs within the cell. C. tetani is an obligate anaerobe and relies solely on fermentation. Since it is an obligate anaerobe, this means that it is unable to tolerate the presence of oxygen. Along with being anaerobic, this bacterium is also very sensitive to heat. However, the spores of Clostridium tetani are very resistant to heat and most usual antiseptics. Clostridium tetani move around by the use of rotary flagella. The organization of these flagella on the bacteria is peritrichous, which means that the flagella are located all around the outside of the bacteria. C. tetani is found in various environments, but is most commonly in sediment, dust, or soil. It is also found in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals where it can become pathogenic. The reason I chose to write my paper on Clostridium tetani is because it interestingly enough produces four different types of clinical tetanus that I will discuss later in my paper. …show more content…
This is a form of generalized tetanus that occurs in newborns infants. The cause of this form is from the unsterilized cutting of the umbilical cord when the baby is born. The fatality rate of neonatal tetanus is the highest of any other form of tetanus. It is very prevalent in developing third world countries where sterilization methods when a baby is born are not very precise. Around 90% of babies affected by neonatal tetanus will result in a fatality. The WHO estimated that in 2010, 58,000 newborns died from neonatal tetanus, which was actually a 93% reduction from the number of deaths due to NT in the