Title: tetanus
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - tetanus
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12128
Status: current

Definition
Sustained muscle contraction.
Disease caused by tetanus toxin and characterized by painful, sustained muscle contraction with spasticity and paralysis.

Related Terms
- paralysis: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11989
- spasticity: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12083
- tetanus toxin: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12129

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 911 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12128/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12128/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12128/xml

Citation: Citation: 'tetanus' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12128
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-30T10:56:27+00:00