Tetanus, often referred to as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection that causes painful muscle spasms and may lead to death. Tetanus is only contracted through a cut or wound that becomes infected through contact with contaminated metal, dirt, or soil. One of the most common ways individuals get tetanus is through puncture wounds caused by dirty nails, glass, knives, or other unsterile sharp objects.

When the bacteria are given time to travel through the bloodstream and to the nervous system, this is when tetanus symptoms begin. Common early symptoms of tetanus include headache, muscle stiffness, fever, palpitations, muscle spasms, difficulty swallowing, and restlessness.

Yesterday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission posted information about a firework recall in Ohio, Illinois, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The fireworks affected are TNT brand Red, White, & Blue Smoke fireworks and they were sold at Albertsons, Kroger, Meijer, Target, Wal-Mart, and other retail vendors from May 2017 to June 2017 for roughly $5.

If you or your family has purchased these fireworks, do not light them. They can explode unexpectedly after being lit, posing a possible burn and injury hazard to users. Three users reported burn injuries to American Promotional Events, the manufacturer of these fireworks, before the recall was issued.

The act of staying safe while driving requires making adjustments for physical changes that naturally happen as we age.  Changes in vision, hearing, attention and reaction time, strength, flexibility, or coordination, are important factors to consider for improving senior driving.  Here are a few safe driving tips for seniors that may help increase their chance for safety on the road:

Check your vision.  It is important to have an eye exam every 1-2 years.  Eye glasses prescriptions should be updated to reflect any changes, and surgery can be preformed to correct more serious vision problems like cataracts.  Sunglasses that are anti-reflective or polarized can help reduce glare.  If visibility in the dark becomes a problem, limit driving to daytime hours only.

Corporations hold a great deal of power in the United States because of one simple fact: Money talks. A major corporation can cut a large check to a high-end organization and more often than not, that check has the ability to encourage action. We saw this in the 1970s and 80s with big tobacco companies. We see this every election season with each candidate’s influenced TV ads.

When corporation-influenced political events happen, we don’t generally hear about every detail until it’s too late. Major corporations are powerful because they wield a great deal of money, but also because they work with large legal departments that can sometimes change the course of what information is made public and under what circumstances.

It’s summertime, and that means that boating enthusiasts will be found throughout Wisconsin’s lakes and rivers, enjoying the cool water and warm sunshine. Boating is one of the most pleasurable summer activities across the United States, but boat operators and passengers alike need to prioritize safety and do whatever they can to avoid dangerous boating accidents.

Boating accidents are more common than most believe. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, over 4,000 recreational boating accidents occurred in 2014 throughout the U.S. In those accidents, 610 people died and over 2,500 were injured. These figures are significant when you consider the fact that recreational boating is often seen as an enjoyable, risk-free pastime. Any activity on the water is potentially dangerous, however, especially when combined with motorized vessels, high speeds, and human error.

By now, we’re all familiar with the dangers of texting and driving. Car makers and smartphone app creators are making major strides to help drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel while sending texts and interacting with their cell phones on the road. Touch-screen dashboards and built-in Bluetooth devices help drivers interact hands-free.

Efforts like these make it easier for us to use the technology we love, but they also pose a question. Do hands-free devices and smartphone apps really eliminate the risks of causing a car accident due to being distracted? When a driver is concentrating on reading or dictating a text on their dashboard, aren’t they still distracted? Freeing the hands isn’t the answer to solving the dilemma on how to eliminate distracted driving altogether.

One of the most common childhood vaccinations is the DTaP vaccine or diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine. The DTaP vaccine is a safer variant of the DTP vaccine which is no longer used in the U.S. Thousands of children are protected from heavily-contagious diseases from this vaccine that is given in 5 doses throughout a child’s early development.

There’s also an adult and adolescent variant of the DTaP vaccine that’s referred to as Tdap. DTaP is not licensed for adults, adolescents, or children older than 7. Tdap is a single-dose vaccine and is recommended once between the ages of 11 and 64. There is another variant of Tdap referred to as Td that protects against tetanus and diphtheria only.

Just recently, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection released a May 2017 bulletin about household product recalls that affect children and homes with children in the state of Wisconsin. These recalls were issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in April 2017 and not all recalls were picked up by local media representatives.

If your household has any of the following items and you have small children in the house, you should pay attention to the information listed and follow the recommended courses of action corresponding to each:

Tide pods are part of the latest trend in laundry detergent.  The tiny pods are filled with brightly colored, highly concentrated liquid detergents that effectively clean clothes without the need to measure, pour, or spill detergent from bulky, heavy, traditional bottles and boxes.  Cleanliness and convenience make Tide pods attractive to adults.  But their small size and bright colors make them attractive and extremely dangerous to children.

Since their release in 2012, the amount of children handling and ingesting Tide pods has steadily increased.  Their “candy-like” appearance causes children to be drawn to them and to want to eat them.  Product manufacturers have made only minor attempts to solve this problem.  More complicated outer packaging that is more difficult to open is emerging on store shelves, but absolutely nothing has been done to address the real issue: the design of the pods themselves.

If you’ve undergone hernia repair surgery in the last ten years, there’s a good chance you may have had a mesh hernia patch inserted during your procedure. Hernia mesh is often used to cover the openings that cause ventral hernias in the abdominal wall. Most types of hernia mesh are made from a porous, flexible material that the body can naturally absorb. This lets the tissues heal over time and become stronger, reducing the chances of hernia recurrence.

In 2010, a hernia mesh manufacturer by the name of Ethicon placed a type of mesh on the market that does not allow the body’s tissues to naturally absorb the material. This mesh is called Physiomesh and it’s comprised of 2 layers—one that is porous and flexible and an outer layer that is not. The outer layer is hard and inflexible. Since the body’s tissues cannot absorb this outer layer, new tissues are forced to grow on the patch. This can cause dense, painful adhesions to develop.