The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7406 p743
24 June 2006

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News summary

UK supply of human tetanus immunoglobulin limited

Advice on how to deal with shortages of human tetanus immunoglobulin (TIG) has been issued by David Salisbury, director of immunisation policy, monitoring and surveillance at the Department of Health, in a letter to hospitals (PDF 20K).

The Department of Health is recommending that hospitals without adequate supplies of TIG use the combined tetanus, low-dose diphtheria and polio vaccine (Revaxis) where TIG would normally be indicated. However, because the vaccine may not prevent tetanus in all patients with tetanus-prone wounds, this substitution should be clearly documented in the patient records to ensure an early diagnosis of tetanus if a patient re-presents with the illness.

According to the DoH, Bio Products Ltd is holding a small quantity of TIG reserved for the emergency treatment of established cases of tetanus.