What is the other name of tetanus caused by toxin producing bacteria called clostridium tetani?

Correct — D. Tetanus is commonly called lockjaw.

The toxin released by Clostridium tetani blocks the nerve signals that tell muscles to relax, so muscles contract and stay contracted.

The masseter, the jaw-closing muscle, is usually among the first affected. The resulting trismus clamps the mouth shut, and the popular name simply records that sign.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Broken jaw — Broken jaw describes a fracture — a mechanical injury to bone. Tetanus locks the jaw by sustained muscle spasm and does nothing to the bone itself.
• (b)
  Snap jaw — Snap jaw is not a medical name for any condition. It is placed on the list because it sounds like it could sit beside the real term.
• (c)
  Cleft jaw — Cleft jaw echoes cleft lip and cleft palate, which are congenital defects of facial development. They have no connection to a bacterial toxin.

Tetanus is caused by Clostridium tetani, an anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium that lives in soil, dust and manure.

Spores enter through a wound. Deep puncture wounds are the classic route, because the airless tissue at the bottom of one is exactly where an anaerobe can grow.

The bacterium itself stays at the wound. What travels is its toxin, tetanospasmin, which reaches the nervous system and stops inhibitory signals from reaching muscle, producing sustained spasm.

The disease is vaccine-preventable, and tetanus toxoid is part of India's routine immunisation.

Key facts

• Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani and by its toxin tetanospasmin.
• The common name lockjaw comes from trismus, spasm of the jaw-closing muscles.
• Spores live in soil and enter through wounds, especially deep puncture wounds.
• Tetanus is prevented by the tetanus toxoid vaccine given under India's routine immunisation schedule.

Common traps

• Choosing the option that merely sounds clinical over the name actually in use.
• Assuming the bacterium spreads through the body when it is the toxin that travels.
• Confusing tetanus with rabies because both act on the nervous system.

No directly related past PYQ was found.