--- title: An Unvaccinated Boy Got Tetanus and Spent 47 Days in the ICU description: The CDC published a case study about a young, unvaccinated boy who got tetanus and spent 47 days in a darkened ICU room, costing $800,000. canonical: https://time.com/5548001/tetanus-case-study/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-08T21:49:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:54.142Z article:section: Health og:title: A Young Boy Spent 47 Days In an ICU and Racked Up $800,000 in Medical Bills Because He Wasn't Vaccinated Against Tetanus og:description: It was Oregon's first pediatric tetanus case in 30 years og:url: https://time.com/5548001/tetanus-case-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c0dcda05272528/6989466f22fb859681e27e8d/tetanus-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2075 og:image:height: 1167 og:image:alt: Health worker prepares a Hypodermic needle with Influenza vaccine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Young Boy Spent 47 Days In an ICU and Racked Up $800,000 in Medical Bills Because He Wasn't Vaccinated Against Tetanus twitter:description: It was Oregon's first pediatric tetanus case in 30 years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c0dcda05272528/6989466f22fb859681e27e8d/tetanus-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Young Boy Spent 47 Days in an ICU and Racked Up $800,000 in Medical Costs Because He Wasn't Vaccinated Against Tetanus > Sponsored content. 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Mar 8, 2019 9:49 PM UTC  Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 8, 2019 9:49 PM UTC A young boy in Oregon spent 47 days in an intensive care unit (ICU), resulting in more than $800,000 in medical costs, because he was not vaccinated against tetanus, [according to a case study](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6809a3.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6809a3) published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Case study co-author Dr. Carl Eriksson, an associate professor of pediatric critical care at Oregon Health & Science University, who was involved in the boy’s treatment, wrote in an email to TIME that severe tetanus cases are very rare in the U.S., where vaccination effectively prevents such conditions. The boy’s illness was Oregon’s first pediatric tetanus case in more than 30 years, according to the case study. “Because of the effectiveness of vaccines, many people have never seen a severe case of a vaccine-preventable illness,” Eriksson says. While Eriksson’s patient lived, “This case illustrates that tetanus is a terrible disease, and reminds us that missing vaccines can have deadly consequences.” In 2017, the boy — who was then 6 years old and had not received any vaccinations — cut his forehead while playing outdoors on a farm, the case study says. Nearly a week later, he was experiencing symptoms consistent with tetanus, including jaw clenching, muscle spasms, “generalized spasticity” and arching of the back and neck. When the boy began to have trouble breathing, his parents called emergency medical support, who air-lifted him to a pediatric medical center where he was eventually diagnosed with tetanus. From there, the boy’s symptoms worsened. He asked for water but couldn’t open his mouth wide enough to drink it, and his breathing troubles grew severe enough that he had to be sedated, intubated and attached to a mechanical ventilator, the case study says. He was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit, and given treatments for tetanus, including a diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine. The boy’s condition was serious enough that he had to be treated in a darkened room with earplugs to minimize sensory stimulation, the report says. “We treated this patient in a darkened room and used earplugs to decrease visual and auditory stimulation, and tried to limit his pain and anxiety as much as possible, all in an effort to decrease his severe muscle spasms,” Eriksson says. The young patient stayed on a mechanical ventilator for 44 days, and in intensive care for 47\. (Eriksson says doctors were gradually able to add more stimulation to his environment as his condition improved.) After 10 days in the intermediate care unit, where he began walking short distances, he was transferred to a rehabilitation center for 17 days. Eventually, the boy did recover fully, and regained the ability to run and bike, according to the case study. But “despite extensive review of the risks and benefits of tetanus vaccination by physicians, the family declined the second dose of DTaP and any other recommended immunizations,” the authors write. The boy’s hospital stay alone, not counting costs for air-lifting, the rehab center and follow-up care, resulted in charges totaling almost $812,000 — 72 times more than the average U.S. pediatric hospitalization, the case study says. Tetanus, which is caused by the bacterial toxin _C. tetani_, is rare in the U.S., since it is easily preventable with vaccination. (The CDC recommends three DTaP doses for babies, with booster shots given at 15 to 18 months and four to six years of age.) Between 2009 and 2015, according to CDC data, only 197 tetanus cases were recorded nationwide, resulting in 16 deaths. The CDC’s case study comes in the midst of several measles outbreaks in the U.S., which have shone a spotlight on the dangers of vaccine skepticism. Measles was declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, but clusters of vaccine resistance — including in areas of the [Pacific Northwest](http://time.com/5524505/measles-washington-vaccination/) and [New York City](http://time.com/5541872/brooklyn-measles-outbreak/), where outbreaks have been severe — have contributed to the resurgence of the preventable illness. ## Transcript I'm Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large, for TIME magazine and I'm here to argue the hard truth that vaccines are safe, effective, and save lives, full stop. [ MUSIC ] There are people who disagree with those facts, who believe that vaccines are unsafe. Unnecessary and that their dangers are being covered up by a conspiracy of silence between the pharmaceutical industry and the government. Non of these, not a syllable of it is true, here is why. First of all, it bears repeating. Vaccines do not cause autism. They never have, they never will. That initial misconception was traced to a fraudulent 1998 study by British doctor Andrew Wakefield. The study as later retracted and Wakefield was stripped of his license to practice medicine in the UK. It is true that autism rates have risen in recent decades, but that's not because more children are developing the condition It's simply because we're diagnosing it better, more sensitively and more liberally. vaccines like all drugs have potential side effects. And as with all drugs, nobody is hiding those side effects. The centers for disease control lists all possible side effects of all possible vaccines readily on it's web site. Most of those side effects are minor. The few that aren't are so rare that it's not even possible to link them conclusively to the vaccines. One other thing no one's hiding are the ingredients in vaccines. All of the package inserts for all vaccines are also readily available online. If you read the packaging search you will see that yes vaccines are stuffed with chemicals. All medications are stuffed with chemicals all foods are made of chemicals. You and I are made of chemicals. Chemicals are essential for life. They do not have to be bad. If generations of medical history have taught us anything, it's that vaccinating children does not lead to illness and death. It's not vaccinating children that does that. Parents who opt out of vaccines do it out of love. Do it because they think that's the best way to protect their children. But that protection comes from vaccinating, not from opting out of vaccines. 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