[Tetanus in the Murcia region: the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of 150 cases]

150 tetanus cases registered on the region of Murcia have been retrospectively analyzed, they have been collected from the patients admitted at a Intensive Care Unit during a period of 18 years; the clinical together with the epidemiological features, as well as their variations, have been studied through out the years. The impact of a vaccination program in adults which was performed in our region during 1981 has been also evaluated in relationship with the incidence of disease and the economical cost of it. Incidence remained homogeneous until 1982, from that date on a sudden decrease on the number of cases was observed, related with the vaccination program [Period previous to the vaccination program: mean 10 cases/year, versus 5 cases/year since it was started (p < 0.001)]. Regarding the epidemiological characteristics, it is remarkable the shift of the disease toward a more advanced age of onset together with a predominance on females beginning in 1978, but without reaching statically significance. More frequent route of infection is nowadays the intramuscular suppurative injection. Besides this fact the severity of the cases have been increasing (from 59% to 71%, p < 0.005), which has determined that the global mortality of the disease remains almost the same (38%). Mortality has no relationship with age, but is related with being a female (p < 0.05), with intramuscular injection as route of infection (p < 0.025), with the clinical stage (p < 0.001) and with a short incubation period (p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)