Tetanus antitoxin titres in military personnel

A study was made of the titres of tetanus antitoxin in the sera of 186 recruits and 886 serving personnel. All were found to have titres of more than 0.01 IU per ml, the titre regarded as sufficient to provide protection from tetanus. The percentage of recruits with tetanus antitoxin titres less than 0.1 IU per ml was significantly greater than the percentage of serving personnel with antitoxin titres less than 0.1 IU per ml and the overall geometric mean titre of the antitoxin in the sera of the recruits was significantly lower than that in the sera of the serving personnel. In the light of the finding that all of the recruits had protective levels of tetanus antitoxin and in view of the imminent withdrawal of TABT Vaccine, alternative strategies for immunisation against tetanus are presented.