Toxic Shock Syndrome: When The Tampon Becomes a Disaster

Millions of women use tampons during their periods. One English woman suffered toxic shock syndrome. What are the symptoms of a TSS?

Toxic shock syndrome: The case

For more than a week, Joanna Cartwright was unresponsive. She was in a coma – because a tampon in her body had caused toxic shock syndrome (TSS). The mother of three children from South Yorkshire, England, like millions of other women in the world, had used tampons during her period. A decision that almost cost her her life, according to the British Daily Mail.

At first, the then 24-year-old thought she might have the flu, but when she developed breathing difficulties and lost consciousness several times, her boyfriend Steven and her mother took her to hospital. Just in time, as the doctors treating her later said. Cartwright’s layers of skin came off, her hands swollen, she lost her nails and half her hair. In the emergency room, her organs were about to fail. On her 25th birthday, she was induced into a medically induced coma.

The infection was caused by bacteria, more precisely the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and the toxins produced by it, which entered the body through the tampon. Toxic shock syndrome does occur very rarely. However, when it does, it often affects women and girls who use highly absorbent tampons during their menstruation. Symptoms of the disease include high fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, extremely low blood pressure, muscle pain and a sunburn-like rash.

In about one third of all women, the actually harmless bacterium is found in small quantities in the vaginal flora anyway. Only one percent of its strains produce the toxin that causes toxic shock syndrome. However, in order to do so, the bacterium needs to multiply. And this can happen if a tampon soaked with blood remains in the vagina for too long – as in the case of Joanna Cartwright.

When the British woman awoke from her coma after eight days, the next shock followed immediately: she could no longer walk and did not recognize her family. The birthday cards and pictures at her bedside told her nothing, she had forgotten the names of her children. “I tried to speak. But at the end of the sentence, I couldn’t remember how it started,” the now 27-year-old told the Daily Mail. “I even thought my brother was my friend.” Toxic shock syndrome had also caused her meningitis.

Only gradually did her memory return. Some gaps she still cannot fill – for example the first steps and words of her daughter Scarlett or holiday experiences. In the first period after the hospital her father moved in at home to help her. After many hours of intensive physiotherapy, Joanna Cartwright is now able to walk again, and her hair and nails have also grown again, but the experience has traumatised her. “I know that parts of me will never be the same again. But I am very happy that my daughters still have their mother. ”

In short: What is toxic shock syndrome?

Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) – colloquially known as “tampon disease” – describes a complex of symptoms caused by toxic bacteria (usually: Staphylococcus aureus, more rarely: Streptococci) that leads to severe circulatory and organ failure. Above all, lack of hygiene when changing tampons and/or wearing them for too long can trigger a TSS. For this reason most manufacturers have stopped producing extremely absorbent tampons. The signs are similar to those of blood poisoning.

The symptoms at a glance

• Fever (from 39°C body temperature)
• Drop in blood pressure (consequences: dizzy spells, fainting)
• Widespread rash
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Muscle aches
• Tachycardia
• Reddening of the skin similar to sunburn, especially on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and subsequent skin flaking
• Reddened mucous membranes
• Kidney and liver damage
• in extreme cases, multiorgan failure is possible

What are the causes of Toxic Shock Syndrome?

In principle, any wound can serve as an entry point for toxic bacteria. Staphylococci can enter the body through skin wounds, burns, insect bites, bursitis or surgical wounds. A birth can also trigger TSS. In more than half of all cases, however, women who use tampons during menstruation are affected.

Toxic shock syndrome: How can I prevent it?

• Always wash your hands thoroughly before inserting the tampon.
• Use the smallest possible tampon size for your personal bleeding intensity.
• Change the tampon frequently.
• Use overnight pads instead of tampons.
• Use an applicator to help insert the tampon.
• Also, a diaphragm should not be worn longer than absolutely necessary.

Why do so many women use a tampon?

The tampon (the word comes from the French and means “wad” or “graft”) is a commonly used hygiene product that women insert into the vagina with their finger or an applicator during their period. It has two convincing advantages for many: As menstrual secretion is absorbed, the elongated cotton wool ball expands, nestles up against the vaginal walls and thus ensures a high degree of wearing comfort – because you usually don’t feel it. The tampon can be removed from the vagina with the return string. Because it already absorbs menstrual blood in the body, it does not come into contact with oxygen – which avoids unpleasant odours.