Vaccinate children for tetanus, parents told

Children risk serious illness and could even die if they are not vaccinated for tetanus, the HSE has warned.

The stark warning follows a report by doctors at the National University of Ireland in Galway, which reported the first case of a child contracting tetanus since it became a notifiable disease here in 1981.

The 11-year-old Irish boy had not been vaccinated for tetanus, and contracted it after getting a puncture wound to his right foot while playing barefoot outdoors.