• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Five Reasons Gardeners Should Get a Tetanus Shot

July 13, 2016 by Jeanne

There are many reasons gardeners should get a tetanus shot. Learn why you’re at risk of tetanus, and why it’s so dangerous, especially for gardeners.

why gardeners should get a tetanus shot

Licensed from alexraths/DepositPhoto.com

Why Gardeners Should Get a Tetanus Shot

I can hear what you’re thinking now: “Oh for Pete’s sake, Jeanne! I just want gardening information! Show me some pretty plants or your funny cats and let’s get on with life.”

Patience, patience. Today is Wellness Wednesday, my weekly post on all things health and wellness. I started thinking the other day about how gardeners are at risk for tetanus. I guess I caught a new bulletin about tetanus vaccines or something. My thoughts turned to this unlikely topic, and I realized that most people are completely unaware that they need this important vaccine.

What is tetanus? It’s a bacteria that lives in the soil called Clostridium tetani. This bacteria is in animal excrement, in the soil, and sometimes in your homes. Don’t get grossed out now. I wrote an article a few days ago and my research uncovered the fact that over 30 to 75 species of insects live in the average home, so if you want something to get grossed out about, I can find plenty more things to share with you…

[Tweet “Gardeners should talk to their doctors about a tetanus booster. Learn more. #wellnessWednesday #health #gardening”]

Let’s get back to the topic of tetanus. It’s a very bad bacteria. Once it enters the skin, your body is very good at combating it and rendering it useless. However, if it gets deep into the skin into places where oxygen cannot penetrate, it produces toxins that can kill you in awful ways.

Want to know how poisonous it is? It’s second only to botulism in its horrific effects on the central nervous system. Think about THAT for a moment.

There are many, many reasons why you should ask your doctor if it’s time for a tetanus booster vaccines. I got mine last year at my request. It’s been about 10 years, and I was taught that you should get a booster every 10 years. Because of my involvement in gardening and with animals, I’m at a higher than normal risk of exposure to the bacteria. If you live and work on a farm, you may be, too.

“But wait,” I can hear you saying. “Isn’t the only way you can get tetanus from a rusty nail going into your foot?”

That’s what my mother told me as a kid, but I think it was just to make sure I put my shoes on when I went outside. Rusty nails or deep puncture wounds are just one way you can get tetanus. Any deep wound, or a wound that scabs over without healing properly, can foster tetanus!

rose Maymont

Pruning your roses can be hazardous to your health….

Gardeners should get a tetanus shot because we are at risk for tetanus; our hands are always in the soil. I don’t know about you, but I’m always getting little nicks, cuts, and scrapes in the garden. Rose bush thorns, blackberry canes, weeds…you name it, something is out to get me. If that something contains tetanus bacteria, I want to know I am as protected as modern science can make me.

Here are five great reasons why gardeners should get a tetanus shot:

  1. Tetanus can kill you: The bacterial infection in your body produces a toxin that affects the central nervous system. It can cause seizures and brain damage.
  2. Tetanus can make you seriously ill: If it doesn’t kill you, it can cause contractions or seizures strong enough to break a bone. Hence the old-fashioned name “lock jaw” – the jaw is one of the bones that can snap if the muscles in the head and neck contract during a tetanus-induced seizure. It’s painful, ugly, and horrible.
  3. Only a little bit of the toxin can kill you. It’s a poison, after all.  You can’t build up an immunity to it, and a small amount can overwhelm you.
  4. You’re sick before you know it: It takes three to 21 days for tetanus symptoms to show up, and by then you may have forgotten all about the original injury that allowed the bacteria to enter your body. That makes identifying the wound site all the more difficult for your doctor.
  5. Vaccines are cheap. Death isn’t. Vaccination for tetanus is commonplace, inexpensive, and safe. This is one vaccine that’s been around for a long time and is relatively safe for adults. The worst side effect is soreness in the injection site and arm for a day or two afterwards, especially if you’re getting booster shots.

If you haven’t had a tetanus shot in a while, or you can’t remember when you last had your tetanus shot, please speak with your doctor. Make an appointment for your annual check up and ask during the check up about tetanus boosters. Don’t risk death or serious illness just because of a little shot. All it takes is a bit of buried barbed wire hitting your hand, a cut from a nail in an old board, a rose thorn, to make you seriously ill. If you can prevent it, why not?

Gardeners should get a tetanus shot if they can, or a booster shot. Remember to take good care of yourself – your family and plants depend on you!

Here’s to #wellnessWednesday

 

rose_dreamweaver

Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share42
42 Shares

Filed Under: Home Garden Tips

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « New Gardening Tasks and Tips for July
Next Post: Home Garden Joy Is Participating in Can-It-Forward Day »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

Vegetable Gardening Tips and Tricks

17 year cicada

Do the 17 Year Cicadas Hurt Gardens?

strawberries are great for vertical gardening

Vertical Gardening to Expand Your Space

rosemary growing in containers for space saving gardens

5 EASY Space Saving Vegetable Garden Ideas

Footer

a plate of Sicilian pasta sauce with cauliflower

Vegan Cauliflower Recipe: Sicilian Sauce

I adapted this vegan cauliflower recipe for Sicilian sauce to my family’s low salt, plant based diet – and got great results. It’s easy to make, tastes wonderful, and gives us another meatless meal for Lent. If you are a Christian seeking Friday dinner ideas for Lent, or simply have a head of cauliflower you…

Read More

A stack or portobello mushrooms with garnish

Marinaded and Grilled Portobello Mushroom Steaks

I made these marinaded and grilled portobello mushroom steaks last night for dinner and they came out delicious! Alongside a pot of fresh vegetable soup and crusty, homemade Italian bread, it was a feast worthy of a king – but 100% vegetarian. Let’s get cooking! What Is a Portobello Mushroom? Portobello mushrooms are large brown…

Read More

a woman holding a popover with the cream interior revealed and two other popovers on a plate

Best Popover Recipe

This is the best popover recipe ever! It was easy to make and turned out delicious popovers. This was my first time making popovers, and I can’t remember the last time I had one, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As usual, I turned to my trusty Fannie Farmer 13th Edition Cookbook and found…

Read More

Christmas present under the tree

Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide

Are you looking for Christmas gifts for gardeners? This is your holiday gift guide to find the perfect present for that special gardener in your life! Ready? Let’s go shopping! Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide Maybe you’re searching for the perfect Christmas gifts for gardeners in your life. Or perhaps you are…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme