BuzzFeed News reported a few weeks ago about the tragic story of 16-year-old Sara Manitoski who died of Toxic Shock Syndrome: a rare condition with a very common source.
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare, life-threatening complication of certain types of bacterial infections; specifically Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria and to a lesser extent, group A streptococcus (strep) bacteria.
While TSS can happen to anyone, it is most commonly associated with women using superabsorbent tampons. This is what happened to Sara– an otherwise healthy girl, who is missed by her family and friends.
BuzzFeed reports that last year on school trip after complaining to friends that she felt sick, she fell unresponsive in her sleep and died due to a strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which was found on a tampon left in her body – toxic shock syndrome.
It is important to note that tampons alone do not cause TSS. It is the bacteria that lives inside us. Staphylococcus aureus normally lives on the skin or in the respiratory tract, nose, vagina, and rectum and about half the population carries the bacteria without any symptoms or problems. In fact, not all staph or strep infections will lead to TSS.
Instead, it is foreign objects left in the body that tiggers the release of the bacteria – and for women, tampons are a common use that can pose a threat if left in the vagina for a long time.
There are ways to significantly reduce the risk of TSS.
“Use the least absorbent tampon for your flow, change it frequently during the day, and leave it in no longer than 8 hours — which is long enough to wear it during a full night of sleep,” said Dr. Alyssa Dweck, an OB-GYN in New York, to BuzzFeed.
And Dr. Dweck stresses to only use a tampon during menstruation.
“A lot of women will come in who wear tampons every single day of the month because they don’t want discharge — do not do this.”
Sara’s sister Carli wrote it best – please see below her post in full and please share awareness if you can!
“After 9 agonizing months we have finally got confirmation that my little sister passed away from Toxic Shock Syndrome or (TSS). Women need to be more educated on this subject, some of you might not even know what TSS is. They say getting TSS is incredibly rare but I know two people that have had it, with one barely surviving and my sister who died from it. Can it really be that rare? My sister complained of stomach cramps before going to bed and then she never woke up. My beautiful, incredibly healthy sister died because of this so please share, educate yourselves and be cautious whenever using tampons. There is such little education on this and it needs to be brought to light. Such an unnecessary and tragic thing to happen to such an amazing young lady. I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else and if this post makes even one person aware and go look up and educate themselves on TSS then I am grateful. Thank you for reading and please share”
To read the full BuzzFeed article, click here.
