Sunday, February 25, 2001

By Wayne Specht
Stars and Stripes

A stateside shortage of adult tetanus vaccine has reached the Navy medical facilities in the Pacific, medical officials say.

But the Air Force’s hospitals and clinics in the Pacific apparently are in better shape.

The Navy has "an acute shortage" of the vaccine throughout the service, said Okinawa Naval Hospital spokesman Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Davis.

Hospital officials are working to acquire supplemental tetanus vaccine, but gave no details about prioritizing the shots for patients.

The Air Force is not experiencing the same problems, Pacific Air Forces spokesman Maj. Victor Hines said Thursday.

Should shortages develop at the command’s air bases, Hines said, the Defense Department would work with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to prioritize who should receive vaccinations.

"We give tetanus boosters every 10 years, so you can figure each year we give about one-tenth of our force booster shots," Hines said. "Our military population is well-vaccinated against tetanus … we’re probably one of the most vaccinated groups around percentagewise."

The Army did not respond to queries about the status of its vaccine stockpile.

Tetanus is an acute, sometimes fatal disease, caused by an exotoxin entering the body’s bloodstream through cuts and wounds. Muscle stiffness usually involves the jaw (lockjaw) and neck, then becomes generalized. It can lead to death by suffocation.

Stateside hospitals have begun rationing adult tetanus supplies after Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a major manufacturer of the vaccine, ceased production citing economic reasons. Aventis Pasteur is the sole remaining manufacturer of the vaccine.

That company is working around the clock to produce the vaccine. However, each batch takes 11 months to make, company officials said.

There are adequate supplies of tetanus in strengths given to children, according to CDC officials in Atlanta.

The occurrence of tetanus in the United States has decreased markedly since the use of tetanus shots became routine, the CDC said. Nevertheless, the number of reported cases has remained relatively constant in the past decade at an annual average of about 50 cases.

In recent years, about two-thirds of patients are 50 years of age or older. The age distribution of recent cases and the results of CDC surveys indicate that many U.S. adults are not protected against tetanus.

The disease has occurred almost exclusively among people who are not immunized or inadequately immunized or whose immunization histories are unknown or uncertain.

Mark Oliva contributed to this report.

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