Tetanus - Review of Recommendations

The TRAVAX team have completed a review of our tetanus vaccine recommendations for all countries.

There are two risk categories for tetanus on TRAVAX:

1. Vaccine usually advised: travellers should be offered a booster of tetanus vaccine if it has been more than 10 years since their last dose
2. Vaccine sometimes advised: boost travellers who may be unable to access medical facilities promptly in the event of injury if it has been more than 10 years since their last dose.

The tetanus assessment methodology assumes that Clostridium tetani is a ubiquitous soil bacterium and therefore present in all countries. Risk of disease to the traveller therefore lies in:

• activity leading to the occurrence of a tetanus-prone injury
• the likelihood of being able to receive appropriate treatment in a timely fashion.

In assessing tetanus risk we used two data sources to identify countries where the likelihood of being able to access appropriate treatment following a potentially tetanus prone wound may be higher: WHO Universal Health Coverage and WHO Healthcare System Ranking

For further information access tetanus and for country specific tetanus recommendations access country pages.