The danger of home birth: a woman developed a rare bacterial infection after the birth of a child

A woman in the US received a bacterial tetanus infection after childbirth at home, according to a new report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

What happened?

A 30-year-old woman, a member of the Amish community in Kentucky, suffered a home birth in June 2016, according to the report. She was helped by a woman who does not have a license to provide medical assistance, from the same community. The child was in the pelvic presentation (buttocks forward) until the birth, but the woman received no physical trauma, and did not suffer from other complications, the report says.

Nevertheless, nine days after the birth, she began to feel pain in the neck and numbness in her face. Her symptoms worsened within the next 24 hours - her neck and jaw became firm, and she was having difficulty swallowing and breathing, the report said.

The victim was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with tetanus. It is an infection caused by the bacteria Clostridium tetani. These bacteria release a toxin that can cause painful muscle contraction, especially in the lower jaw, as well as all-body cramps.

Rare disease

Tetanus is a very rare infection in the United States. A year, no more than 30 cases of this disease are registered, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And cases of obstetric tetanus that occur during pregnancy or within six weeks after childbirth are even less common. According to the report, no case of obstetric tetanus was recorded between 1972 and 2008.

Previously, this infection was more common. Registered cases of tetanus in the United States decreased by 95 percent since 1947, when the United States began to track them. This decrease was due, in particular, to the introduction of tetanus vaccine. Almost every person who still has to face a disease in the United States has never been vaccinated.

Health care

The woman referred to in the report has also never been vaccinated against the disease. She was treated with a drug that can neutralize the toxin released by bacteria if it is not yet associated with a neural tissue, according to Mayo Clinic.

The woman experienced epileptic seizures and needed medical help to breathe. But after spending one month in the hospital, she recovered enough to return home, the report said.

Doctors working with her recommended that the newborn child also receive medication in case the infection was transmitted to him from the mother during childbirth, but the family rejected this preventive treatment, according to the report. The infant was examined for signs of infection, but no problems were noted.

"This case underscores the importance of vaccination against tetanus for all people," the researchers write in their report.

Problems with vaccination

People from the Amish community, as a rule, do not have religious reasons to not be vaccinated, but, as a rule, they simply do not receive preventive medical care, as the report says.

In order to help increase vaccination rates in the Amish community, members of the local health department visited each family to explain the benefits of vaccination. They were able to vaccinate 47 people, or 12 percent of community members, with a Tdap vaccine that prevents tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, or a Td vaccine that protects against tetanus and diphtheria.

However, since then, none of the vaccinated community members agreed to receive further injections. They say they do not need constant vaccination. Local health officials plan to conduct additional explanatory work in this direction.

When to get vaccinated

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children receive five doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine, and then repeat the injection during adolescence. It is recommended that adults receive control injections every 10 years. In addition, pregnant women should be vaccinated during the third trimester of pregnancy, sometime between the 27th and 36th weeks.