Guidance

Tetanus: advice for health professionals

Guidance on the management of suspected tetanus cases and on the assessment and management of tetanus-prone wounds.

• From: UK Health Security Agency
• Published: 16 March 2013
• Last updated: 12 August 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 12 August 2026

     Guidance updated July 2026: Clarification of use of IVIG, clarification of risk assessment approaches, updated NIBSC testing results of treatment products.

  2. 15 March 2024

     Updated table 5.

  3. 18 September 2023

     Updated guidance.

  4. 30 July 2019

     Added updated guidance - see page 5 for revision summary.

  5. 9 November 2018

     Published revised 'tetanus: guidance for healthcare professionals'.

  6. 16 March 2013

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Guidance on the management of suspected tetanus cases and the assessment and management of tetanus-prone wounds

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Details

This document provides recommendations on the diagnosis and treatment of tetanus, including:

• the use of immunoglobulins for the treatment of clinical tetanus
• the management of tetanus prone wounds
• laboratory testing
• guidance for classifying tetanus-prone injuries

A set of aide memoire posters are also available.