Blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research

Because of a tampon

November 28th, 2011 by Chris Bobel

Photo of Amy Rae Elifritz used with permission.

Amy Rae Elifritz was 20 when she died of tampon-related Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) on June 13, 2010.

Take a moment to reckon with this.

Because of a tampon.
2010.

Her remarkable mother, Lisa Elifritz founded a not for profit You ARE Loved (ARE=Amy Rae Elifritz). [http://you-are-loved.org/]The organization’s mission centers on “raising awareness of tampon related Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) and providing factual information about menstruation.”

YAL is doing some creative outreach using social media. They launched a blog project this year to spread TSS awareness throughout the blogosphere, and they are doing more general menstrual education, too. For instance, their monthly “Tweet Chats”  touch on a range of related issues. November’s chat explored menstrual care options and December’s upcoming chat is about “Period(ic)Stories”.

Thanks to Lisa Elifritz, Amy’s too-short life is much bigger than her 20 years. Lisa and her collaborators are transforming an avoidable tragedy into social action that can literally save lives.

Because no one should die because of a tampon in 2010.

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Activism, Internet, Menstruation, Toxic Shock Syndrome | 2 Comments »

New Data on Toxic Shock Syndrome

December 17th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling

The first known case of fatal TSS related to an IUD was recently reported recently. Here’s the abstract from the November 2009 Annals of Emergency Medicine (the full article is behind a subscription firewall):

Toxic shock syndrome is a rare toxin-mediated condition that can rapidly produce multiorgan failure and severe shock. Toxic shock syndrome has been previously recognized in various clinical situations relating to surgery, nasal packing, abscesses, burns, and most notably menstrual-related cases. This case report describes a previously healthy 33-year-old woman presenting to the emergency department with complaints of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; vital signs at triage were normal. Within hours, she developed shock and cardiopulmonary arrest. The patient met all 6 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention diagnostic criteria for toxic shock syndrome, and her intrauterine device grew out Staphylococcus aureus. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in the medical literature of fatal toxic shock syndrome related to an intrauterine device.

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Tags: , ,
Posted in Birth Control, Disposable menstrual products, Health Care, New Research | 1 Comment »

Tampon Coating May Protect from Toxic Shock

December 9th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kissling

tamponsToxic shock syndrome is a potentially deadly complication of bacterial infection, resulting from Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria. It has been associated with the use of super-absorbent tampons (most notably, the infamous Rely brand in 1980), but other risk factors include skin wounds and surgery. Thus it can also affect men, children, and postmenopausal women. Given the history of association of TSS with tampons – 40 women in the US died between March 1980 and March 1981 – research on prevention of TSS in menstruating women is ongoing.

A new finding, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases last week, suggests that using GML as a tampon fiber finish may reduce the risk of TSS in menstruating women. GML (Glycerol monolaurate) is an emulsifier used in ice cream, cosmetics, and chewing gum. (It also occurs naturally in human breast milk.)

The researchers tested the GML coating in a double-blind study in which the women wore the special tampons for 2-6 hours on the second day of menstrual flow. The women’s own tampons were then compared with study tampons with or without GML for S. aureus and the exotoxins associated with TSS. Lower amounts of the exotoxins were present in study tampons with GML than study tampons without GML, leading the researchers to conclude “that GML added to tampons provides additional safety relative to menstrual toxic shock syndrome as well as benefits for vaginal health generally.”

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Tags: ,
Posted in FemCare, New Research | Comments Off

Readers should note that statements published in re: Cycling are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Society as a whole.