An Unvaccinated Boy Got Tetanus. His Oregon Hospital Stay: 57 Days and $800,000.

A 6-year-old boy was playing on a farm when he cut his forehead, a laceration that was simple enough to tend to at home.

But six days later, his parents realized something was seriously wrong: He was clenching his jaw, having trouble breathing and experiencing involuntary muscle spasms.

The boy, who had not received vaccinations, was taken to Oregon Health & Science University and was found to have tetanus, the state’s first documented pediatric case of the disease in more than 30 years, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The case, from 2017, was chronicled this week in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It quickly leapt to the top of the report’s list of most-viewed articles and generated much discussion online.