Epidemiological, Clinical and Outcome Aspects of Care-Related Tetanus in Dakar, Senegal

Introduction: Tetanus portals of entry are numerous. Amongst these, the carerelated portals of entry are rarely reported. The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and outcome aspects and identify the factors associated with death from care-related tetanus. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of descriptive and analytical purposes. Data were collected from the medical records of patients admitted to the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department of the National University Hospital Center (CHNU) of Fann in Dakar for care-related tetanus during the period ranging from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2016. Care-related tetanus was defined as any case of tetanus occurring after a surgical procedure, including circumcisions performed even outside a health facility. Results: In eight years, 50 cases of care-related tetanus were recorded. Care-related tetanus accounted for 6.7% of hospitalized tetanus cases. The mean age of patients was 21 ± 22 years, with a male predominance (sex ratio: 6.14). The procedure had been performed in most cases, either in a health facility in 22 patients (44%) or at home in 16 patients (32%), and occurred after circumcision. In 62% of cases the portal of entry was urological, followed by orthopedic surgery (14%) and visceral surgery (10%). The procedures performed were dominated by circumcision (31 cases), limb amputation (3 cases) and inguinal hernia repair (2 cases). Tetanus was immediately generalized on admission in all patients. Eighty-four percent (84%) of patients were admitted with Mollaret stage II. Cardiovascular (11 cases), infectious (10 cases) and respiratory (9 cases) complications were the most frequent. The hospital case fatality rate was 24%. Factors associated with death were female gender (p = 0.03), age between 15 - 60 years (p = 0.02), incubation time < 7 days (p = 0.003), presence of complication (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Care-related tetanus remains a concern in poor income countries, particularly in Senegal. The drop of these cases will require better immunization coverage of the population. It is also appropriate to raise the awareness of health care providers and surgeons and to promote capacity building for better prevention of cases through sero-immunization of patients at risk before the procedure and rigorous asepsis.