Determining tetanus antitoxin levels of adult people in Manisa region

Nowadays, tetanus is a rarely encountered diseae. However it is associated with incomplete or lack of vaccination and have the risk of life-threatening infection. This study was planned to present tetanus immunity in Manisa, to determine the antitoxin levels, to improve the antitoxin levels in various groups of age, to analyse the relation between the booster doses and protected levels and according to the results to suggest avaible vaccination programs.Blood samples collected from 856 people living in Manisa and aged at least 18 years old. Of these, 465 (%54,3) were women and 391 (%45,7) were men. A questionnaire was given to the subjects for asking age, sex, education, alcohol use, co-morbidity, pregnancy, military service, injury and vaccination history. Tetanus antitoxin levels measured by the EIA (IBL, Hamburg) method. The levels of 0,1 IU/ml and above were considered to immune also below the 0,1 IU/ml titers were accepted insufficient immunity to tetanus. According to this; overall, 86,4 percent of people had protective levels of tetanus antibodies. All of the people younger then 40 years old had protective levels but protective levels of tetanus antibodies decreased by years.In our study, there was a relation between tetanus immunity and primary childhood vaccination, co-morbidity, vaccination in pregnancy, vaccination after injury and vaccination time (p< 0.05 Fisher?s exact chi-square test). However, there was no significant difference in the rate of immunity between subjects in terms of sex, education, alcohol, place of birth, social statues and vaccination in military service.In conclusion, tetanus is a vaccine preventable disease but the immunity decreases by aging. Our results demonstrated that adut people can be susceptible in older ages. For this reason, we suggest that people who are older then 40 have to be immunized with booster doses.