A soil bacterium whose toxin causes tetanus — an illness you cannot catch from another person and that vaccination prevents. Explore its illustrative 3D model, human context, and sources.
PHAC describes C. tetani as a motile, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium whose vegetative cells are rod shaped, pleomorphic and occur in pairs or short chains, with terminal spores giving a drumstick appearance; it appears Gram-positive in young cultures and becomes Gram-negative on sporulation. It produces tetanospasmin, a potent neurotoxin. CDC states that tetanus bacteria can get into someone’s body through broken skin, usually through injuries, and that symptoms appear between 3 and 21 days, averaging 8 days, after exposure. PHAC records that transmission occurs through contamination of wounds with soil or foreign bodies carrying spores and that the disease is not directly transmitted from person to person.
The damage in tetanus comes from a toxin acting on nerves, not from the bacteria spreading through the body or between people. CDC states that 1 in 10 cases in the United States are fatal. WHO reports that just over 7,700 newborns died from neonatal tetanus in 2021, an 84% reduction since 2000. These are population figures; vaccination status, wound type and access to care all change an individual situation.
Clostridium tetani · One sporulating rod with a bulging terminal endospore, the characteristic drumstick outline. A dividing vegetative cell is a separate state in the replication diagram. This is a species-informed teaching diagram; colours, proportions, envelope spacing and internal detail are illustrative. The model uses muted illustrative colours; stains, colony pigments and microscopy colourization are not natural cell colours. Anatomy is enlarged for phone viewing. Morphology reference: Clostridium tetani · pathogen safety data sheet.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.