[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by peter12

Can you get your priorities straight! It's the giant tetanus-covered public monument creating lockjaw in all of our young skateboarding children that is the threat.

I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic...

Rust is not in and of itself a C. tetani carrier; rather, the thinking goes that if the nail has been outside long enough to get rusty, then it's probably been exposed to soils containing the bacteria. The crevices of the rust give the soil a place to hide, and the deep puncture wound gives the C. tetani a place to do its work. Any injury related to puncture is reason for concern, though, no matter how clean the piercing object seemed to be.

If you do step on a rusty nail or suffer a similar injury, bear in mind that the spores of C. tetani are resistant to antiseptics that are used to clean wounds. You'll have to head to the hospital for an antitoxin known as tetanus immune globulin. The antitoxin must be administered soon after the injury as it can only attack circulating toxins, not the tetanospasmin which may have already attached itself to a nerve ending. Those who don't seek treatment face the risk of their entire body freezing up

http://science.howstuffworks.com/sci...l-tetanus1.htm

I don't disagree the rust art thing is a bit odd and also not really my cup of tea, but the tetanus outcry regarding rust is a little excessive me thinks.