Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is a bacterial illness that has been associated with the use of
tampons since late in the 1970s. Tampon-induced TSS is a relatively rare, potentially lethal
disease, caused by a strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacterial toxin known as TSST-1. The
TSST-1 toxin enters the bloodstream, and has been found in vaginas, and almost exclusively
affects women who use tampons.
Most officially diagnosed cases of tampon-related TSS occur in women under 30 years of age,
especially teenage women 15 to 19 years of age. Sixty percent of tampon-induced TSS fatalities
are reported to be in women 15 to 24 years, 98 percent of these being white women. U.S.
estimates of the incidence of TSS are between 1 and 17 cases per 100,000 menstruating women
per year. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta received 216
reports of TSS in 1993, 244 cases in 1992. The CDC reports that 99 percent of all TSS cases
were in women and 98 percent of these women suffered the onset of the disease during a
menstrual period. The case fatality, or death rate, for tampon-induced TSS is about 6 percent.
Experts say that only 10 percent of all cases are recorded.
Women and girls suffer and die every year from tampon-induced Toxic Shock Syndrome.
Women who have survived TSS have suffered, among other problems, miscarriages, loss of hair,
loss of limbs and paralysis.
Recent studies, released at the 1994 convention of the American Society for Microbiology have
demonstrated a link between the use of tampons containing rayon and TSS. The research
demonstrates a propensity for tampons containing rayon fibers to amplify the production of the
TSST-1 toxin, known to be responsible for tampon-induced Toxic Shock Syndrome.
These studies also show that the TSST-1 toxin is not produced on the cotton used to produce terra femme tampons.
More information on symptoms of TSS and prevention.