Every injury, from sewing needle and gardening tool mishaps to animal bites and scratches, carries with it the potential for tetanus. That includes gunshot wounds and knife stabbings.īut while deep wounds best provide that environment, don't shrug off surface injuries. Any injury related to puncture is reason for concern, though, no matter how clean the piercing object seemed to be. The crevices of the rust give the soil a place to hide, and the deep puncture wound gives the C. tetani carrier rather, the thinking goes that if the nail has been outside long enough to get rusty, then it's probably been exposed to soils containing the bacteria. It takes only a small amount of tetanospasmin, which causes tetanus's signature muscle contractions and spasms by affecting the nerves, to do the trick. tetani releases a neurotoxin known as tetanospasmin, which may be the second most powerful toxin after botulinum. A puncture wound, such as one that might occur from stepping on a nail, can provide that breeding ground.

tetani isn't dangerous, because it can only reproduce in an oxygen-deprived setting. Without treatment, one out of three people die from tetanus. These symptoms usually start to appear one week after infection, though they may appear as soon as a few days after, or even a few weeks after infection. Spasms can also result in difficulty swallowing or breathing, and other symptoms of the condition include drooling, irritability, fever and sweating. Those muscle contractions can spread throughout the body, sometimes resulting in spasms so intense that they cause fractures. Tetanus is also known as lockjaw because one of the first symptoms is muscle contraction in the area around the mouth, which leaves the mouth rigidly frozen. Legend has it that stepping on a rusty nail will cause tetanus.

But to many people, there is no nail more dangerous than the fabled rusty nail. And even when you're safely ensconced within your automobile, a nail can still produce danger and frustration in the form of a flat tire. Using a nail gun to place the nails isn't any safer a simple Internet search will procure gruesome stories of nail gun-related injuries. When trying to hammer a nail into its final destination, the risk of hammering a thumb instead is extremely high. Though they're indispensable to any construction project, nails are so dangerous that it's a wonder that you don't need a permit to buy them at the hardware store. Anthony Harvie/Photographer's Choice RF/ Getty Images

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