TY - JOUR A1 - Adamu, Abdullahi A1 - Ismail, Zubair A1 - Mustapha, Muhammad A1 - Olarinoye-Akorede, Sefiya T1 - Fatal tetanus infection originating from fungating advanced breast cancer: Case report and review of the literature Y1 - 2018/4/1 JF - Archives of International Surgery JO - Arch Int Surg SP - 81 EP - 86 VL - 8 IS - 2 UR - https://www.archintsurg.org/article.asp?issn=2278-9596;year=2018;volume=8;issue=2;spage=81;epage=86;aulast=Adamu DO - 10.4103/ais.ais_46_18 N2 - Tetanus is an acute and potentially fatal disease caused by an exotoxin produced by a bacterium, Clostridium tetani. The cultural habit of application of concoctions made from mud and animal dung to chronic and necrotic wounds in our environment may provide a portal of entry for serious tetanus infection. There is a paucity of published data of tetanus infection arising from a necrotic breast tumor as a possible portal of entry in study area necessitating our report on a 48-year-old woman with extensive and fungating invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast who acquired fatal tetanus infection presumably from application of animal dung to the necrotic chest wall tumor. Patient and caregiver's education, clinical awareness, timely treatment, and proper tetanus vaccination in predisposed patients before surgical excision, debridement, or chemotherapy might be necessary to prevent this catastrophe. ER -