Tetanus — Forgotten but Not Gone

With so much concern about threats from emerging new infections and from antimicrobial resistance in common organisms, it is easy to become complacent about infections that are under control and have become clinical rarities. In this issue of the Journal, Gergen and colleagues1 provide the good news that almost 70 percent of a random sample of Americans six or more years of age had protective levels of tetanus antibodies. The bad news is that by the age of 60 to 69 years the prevalence of protective antibodies is less than 50 percent and, by the age of 70, about 30 . . .