Toxic Shock Syndrome

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Toxic Shock Syndrome

Research

2005

Clostridium sordellii Toxic Shock Syndrome after Medical Abortion with Mifepristone and Intravaginal Misoprostol- United States and Canada, 2001-2005 (7/30/05)
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The Food and Drug Administration, CDC, and local and state health departments continue to investigate the cases of four women in the United States who died after medical abortions during 2003-2005 with Mifeprex® (mifepristone, formerly RU-486) and intravaginal misoprostol. A fifth death after medical abortion with the same drugs was reported in 2001, in Canada. Three of the deaths have been linked to infection with Clostridium sordellii.

Letter: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Toxic Shock Syndrome (3/30/05)
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http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no04/pdfs/04-0893.pdf
This is a report of a case of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) due to a methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain that produced a TSS toxin 1. A 54-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency ward of Brugmann University Hospital, Brussels, with a 2-day history of myalgia, diarrhea, and vomiting. She had undergone surgery for a palate neoplasia 2 months earlier, and again 2 weeks earlier, in another hospital. After the second operation, she had been treated for a local scar infection with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid for 1 week. TSS caused by MRSA strains has been found extensively in Japan, rarely in the United States, and, thus far, not in Europe.

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2004

Early and Definitive Diagnosis of Toxic Shock Syndrome by Detection of Marked Expansion of T-Cell-Receptor Vβ2-Positive T Cells
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Two cases are reported of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) with puerperal infection that could be diagnosed at the early stage of the clinical course by detecting a marked expansion of T-cell-receptor V 2-positive T cells, as measured by flow cytometric analysis. The symptoms of one patient were too complex to permit diagnosis according to the clinical criteria without evaluation of the TSST-1-reactive T cells. The role of T-cell analysis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the diagnosis of TSS is discussed. From the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.

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1997

Toxic Shock Syndrome in the United States: 1979-1996
Menstrual toxic shock syndrome (TSS) emerged as a public health threat to women of reproductive age in 1979-80. Surveillance data was reviewed for the period 1979 to 1996, when 5,296 cases were reported, and changes in the epidemiologic features of TSS were discussed in this article.

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