General characteristics of Clostridium tetani

General characteristics of Clostridium tetani: A 45-year-old man stepped on a small piece of broken glass while he was walking bare foot on his driveway. He washed his foot with soap and water and put some antibacterial lotion and a band aid on it. After about a week, he started feeling numbness and rigidity affecting his injured leg. The rigidity of his leg got worse in the next few days. He went to a local emergency room and he was questioned about the date of his last tetanus shot. He indicated that he was not aware of it. He was immediately treated for Tetanus.

1. What the genus and species name and general characteristics of the organism that caused his disease
2. How did the organism infect him? Why didn’t the antibacterial lotion that he applied to his wound did not prevent the infection by this organism?
3. What’s the pathogenesis (mechanism of disease production) of this organism
4. How is this disease treated?
5. How is this disease best prevented?