Tetanus from a snake bite?

[pretends2bnormal]

My husband had his mom over the other day because she wanted to see the snakes. But, she was unwilling to hold any of them because her tetanus shot is not up to date and she was worried about getting tetanus from one of the snakes biting if something happened to cause a bite. She was not afraid of the snakes or being bitten by itself, she has owned snakes before in her youth and many other animals common and not since then, she was just concerned by the chance of getting tetanus from a bite.

But... I have not once come across a single mention of tetanus from a snake bite in any forum, breeder page, books, or anything I've read in my research in the last 2 years about captive snakes. I'd like to know if this is a legitimate concern and if it isn't, I'd like to have some publications/reputable sources I can share with her about it.

Is tetanus actually a concern for a snake bite (specifically for captive bred/born snakes)?

[I would guess it is an "anything goes" situation with wild snakes since it can be contracted from contaminated soil or other things they would be exposed to from my initial searches on tetanus in general.]

Does anyone have any scientific-based articles or info about it they could share?

All of the mentions of it I have found are on pages that promote some fairly outdated practices or provide weird/wrong reasoning for doing some husbandry things, so I am not willing to trust what they say & they had no sources to back it up. (I.e. feed "dead prey" so your snake will be less likely to bite you than if fed live prey, always use a feeding enclosure because of cage aggression, etc.)



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[e_nigma]

Have not seen much where snakes are referenced, but potentially a snake could carry it, the probability of that being the case might be incredibly small, however, tetanus can be passed via bites from animals/people. The trend I see is tetanus shots and venomous snakes, I have not seen much as far as non-venomous snakes and tetanus shots. Hope this helps, but it does seem a bit muddled and seems to be a response to a potential envenomed bite.

Snake bite (granted it specifies poisonous with no venom injected, but references tetanus vaccines)

4 cases of tetanus from snake bites in Nigeria

"Patients with snakebite must be admitted to an emergency department, where a poison control center should be contacted immediately. Wounds should be cleaned, and administration of tetanus toxoid or tetanus immune globulin should be considered for under-immunized or nonimmunized patients." -Link

[Bogertophis]

I wouldn't worry about it for typical pet snakes (not giants & normal snake teeth) but I certainly stayed current on my tetanus shots (still do) when I worked
with rattlesnakes. You actually need a DEEP puncture wound for tetanus, like fangs would accomplish...our typical pet snakes would be unlikely sources, IMO.

Tetanus is such a horrible illness & so preventable, I can't fault anyone for their concern though. I've not seen any studies on this regarding snakes, as relatively few people are at risk, but for anyone that works around the yard or nails things, it's a darn good idea anyway.

Also, for captive-bred snakes, where would they even pick it up to "carry it"? Better chance of being hit by lightning...
Tetanus requires a deeper & narrow wound that doesn't drain easily...all of our pet snakes have teeth that leave surface wounds that are "accessible" to clean out.

[pretends2bnormal]

It's interesting that almost every article of scientific or medical basis refers almost entirely to either venomous snakes or to wild snakes (or both). Wonder if there is a way to find out if there have been any cases of tetanus at hospitals where the cause was a pet (non-venomous) snake?

It seems like tetanus is a contagion that would be present due to contamination of the snake's prey/environment such that it becomes present in the mouth and thus transmittable to a human via a bite.

I would think that most captive bred snakes would never have a chance to pick up the bacteria due to lack of exposure to substrates or prey that have been exposed... unless it is something that could be passed mother to egg/hatchling?

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[pretends2bnormal]

I wouldn't worry about it for typical pet snakes (not giants & normal snake teeth) but I certainly stayed current on my tetanus shots (still do) when I worked
with rattlesnakes. You actually need a DEEP puncture wound for tetanus, like fangs would accomplish...our typical pet snakes would be unlikely sources, IMO.

Tetanus is such a horrible illness & so preventable, I can't fault anyone for their concern though. I've not seen any studies on this regarding snakes, as relatively few people are at risk, but for anyone that works around the yard or nails things, it's a darn good idea anyway.

Also, for captive-bred snakes, where would they even pick it up to "carry it"? Better chance of being hit by lightning...
Tetanus requires a deeper & narrow wound that doesn't drain easily...all of our pet snakes have teeth that leave surface wounds that are "accessible" to clean out.

Of course being vaccinated is good, but it just seemed like such an odd thing to be worried about... especially with snakes so unlikely to bite anyway.

I didn't know that it would need to he a deep/narrow wound to he susceptible though, that's interesting.

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[Bogertophis]

(thanks Wiki...)
"Tetanus is caused by the tetanus bacterium Clostridium tetani. Tetanus is an international health problem, as C. tetani endospores are ubiquitous. ... Due to C. tetani being an anaerobic bacterium, it and its endospores thrive in environments that lack oxygen, such as a puncture wound."

For more than you probably want to read: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/tetanus.html

[pretends2bnormal]

Honestly, she should probably be more worried about tetanus from other things like living in a pretty rural area, actively building and constructing an addition to their house from scratch after the new foundation was laid with all the metal that involves, a substantial produce garden, owning 3 dogs who can free-roam on their 20+ acres of property and 2 cats who do the same (one of whom is a very reliable mouser and likes leaving gifts).

I think any of those is a more likely tetanus risk than a snake bite that had maybe a 1% chance of happening, probably much less than 1%. And our largest snake right now is a 1400 gram male ball python who would probably be hard pressed to deal an injury of the kind the tetanus bacteria thrives in. I have a few snakes that will outgrow that size with time, but they're young still (male bci, coastal carpet python, couple female BPs).

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[Bogertophis]

Honestly, she should probably be more worried about tetanus from other things like living in a pretty rural area, actively building and constructing an addition to their house from scratch after the new foundation was laid with all the metal that involves, a substantial produce garden, owning 3 dogs who can free-roam on their 20+ acres of property and 2 cats who do the same (one of whom is a very reliable mouser and likes leaving gifts).

I think any of those is a more likely tetanus risk than a snake bite that had maybe a 1% chance of happening, probably much less than 1%. And our largest snake right now is a 1400 gram male ball python who would probably be hard pressed to deal an injury of the kind the tetanus bacteria thrives in. I have a few snakes that will outgrow that size with time, but they're young still (male bci, coastal carpet python, couple female BPs).

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I totally agree. Your largest snakes might eventually fit the bill, but I still think captive snakes have a pretty low risk of carrying it anyway...where would they pick it up?
(-tell her you'll brush their teeth & get them to use mouthwash, LOL) You're correct, everything else you mentioned above is a bigger risk. Even dental work carries a
small risk, they say??? So really, this is a relevant vaccination for nearly everyone, IMO. Anyone can step on a dirty nail in the yard or at the beach.