Tetanus risk factors

Ghee is clarified butter from the milk of water buffaloes or cows. Although the butter is heated enough to ehm-inate non-sporulating organisms, the process is unlikely to kill the spores of Clostridium tetani. This may explain why a case-control study in rural areas of Pakistan identified its traditional use as an umbilical cord dressing as a risk factor for the development of neonatal tetanus (24). 

Traverse HP, Bennett JV, Kahn AJ, Agha SB, Rahim H, Kamil S, Lang MH. Ghee applications to the umbilical cord a risk factor for neonatal tetanus. Lancet 1989 l(8636) 486-8. 

Hoffman, H.J. Hunter, J.C. Damns, K. Pakter, J. Peterson, D.R. van Belle, G. Hasselmeyer, E.G. Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis immunization and sudden infant death Results of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Cooperative Epidemiological Study of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome risk factors. Pediatrics 1987, Apr., 79 (4), 598-611. 

O Leroy, M Garenne. Risk factors of neonatal tetanus in Senegal. Int 1 Epidemiol 20 521-526, 1991. 

W Hlady, N Bennett, AR Samadi, 1 Begum, A Hafez, AI Tarafdar, JR Boring. Neonatal tetanus in rural Bangladesh risk factors and toxoid efficacy. Am J Public Health 82 1365-1369, 1992. 

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