Last reviewed and revised on October 23, 2012 |By Robert
Shmerling, M.D.| Harvard Medical School I can remember as a kid
being chased by my older brother through our neighbor's garden
and cutting my leg on a rusty nail. At the time, I figured I was
doomed to get tetanus, which my brother thought would be just
great. (So much for concerned brothers.) I rushed inside to
clean the cut, and soon after my mom whisked me off to the
pediatrician to get a tetanus booster. It turns out I had little
to worry about there is little connection between rusty objects
and the risk of tetanus. This myth has probably survived for
several reasons: - Tetanus is rare in the U.S. Most people here
have no actual experience with this disease. (Tetanus is a much
bigger problem in other parts of the world, especially in
developing countries. According to the World Health
Organization, there are an estimated 213,000 deaths worldwide
due to tetanus.) - This myth is close to the truth. Wounds
contaminated with soil (although not specific