USA PRESS AGENCY FILES REVEAL MORE CASES OF TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME - (1ST JANUARY 2009)
(USA readers are invited to add more detail if they know about these TSS cases).
KELLY NEFF, a 16 year old student at Lincoln-Way East High School in Illinois had been using a new sports-type brand of tampon for the first time shortly before she died of Toxic Shock Syndrome in August 2007. Kelly's uncle Carl was spokesmen for the grieving Neff family and said that Kelly had been experiencing flu-like symptoms since Saturday. She started her period on the previous Wednesday and her mom became concerned on Monday and tried to make a doctor's appointment, but the doctor had no free space. Kelly's parents took her to Loyola University Medical Centre in Maywood, but she died suddenly.
DANIELLE GRAVES, an 18 year old college student from Iowa, thought that the hamburger she had eaten had given her stomach ache, so she went to bed early. She woke up that evening with vomiting, diarrhoea and a fever, took some medication and went back to bed. This was a Saturday in December 2005. When she woke up the following afternoon she was worse and her temperature had soared to 104 degrees. She was taken to the local hospital where staff noticed her tampon and found very low blood pressure and a red rash. By late afternoon, Danielle was on a helicopter to Mercy Medical Centre in Des Moines. On Monday she was pale and unconscious, hooked to a ventilator with several IVs attached. Her lungs and kidneys failed and she was revived from 3 cardiac arrests before succumbing to the fourth. She died on the Tuesday afternoon from staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome.
KOURTNEY MATTHEWS from San Jose, California, was 16 when she died of tampon-related Toxic Shock Syndrome in November 2004. It started with flu-like symptoms and within 24 hours Kourtney was dead. Her mother Tracy said "Since nobody's been talking about TSS for years, you think tampons are safe. I'm never going to see her get married and have kids. It's really hard when you think that all she was doing was taking care of her personal hygiene".
JAMIE ZIMMERMAN, a high school student almost died of TSS when she was 17 years old in April 2002. One Saturday night she went to a party with friends. She was on her period, so she wasn't feeling great to begin with. Things got worse when she started to suffer from a headache, nausea, chills and an upset stomach. By 9 pm she asked her friends to take her home where she was violently sick. Her mother gave her some medication and she went to bed. Two days later she was in a coma and had to be rushed to hospital.
LISA MENGARELLI from Illinois, was 18 in 1997, when she nearly died from a mystery disease, later diagnosed as an extreme case of Toxic Shock Syndrome. Then 8 years on, in October 2005, Lisa was diagnosed with osteoporosis. "I wasn't shocked at all", said Lisa, "the medication that I have to take puts me at higher risk of brittle bones. I'm at the point where another chronic condition is not unexpected". Lisa also suffers from Raynaud's phenomenon, which is a circulatory disorder and Lupas, which is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by fatigue and skin rashes. Lisa said that although she is only 26, she feels like she has the body of an 80 year old. It is not reported if Lisa's condition is due to her suffering from Toxic Shock Syndrome.
DOLORES SHEA, aged 30, died of Toxic Shock Syndrome in October 1989 after suffering flu-like symptoms. Four years on, in July 1993, a Chicago newspaper reported that a Santa Anna, (California) jury failed to find the tampon manufacturer (Kimberly-Clark Corp) responsible for her death, but the judge overturned their verdict. This ruling means a retrial in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Dolores's husband Michael.
DONNA MARIE DAVIS, age 31 from Illinois, died of TSS in 1979. Her family finally got permission to sue the tampon manufacturer (Johnson and Johnson) which took place in January 1990. After an 11 hour deliberation, the jury ordered the company to pay $905,000 in compensation.
MEGHAN DURAN, a 14 year old student, about to start at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, California, suffered from Toxic Shock Syndrome in September 2004. She had flu-like symptoms and a rash, and two days later became critically ill. Although she has now recovered, it was reported that she still gets tired very easily. She said that she had never heard of TSS. Her mother said "with something this serious and this dangerous, there should be a more prominent warning on the outside of the box".
TRICIA ZAILO, a university student in Michigan, died of Toxic Shock Syndrome in December 2000. She was using a tampon and suffered from a fever over 102 degrees, vomiting, diarrhoea and sunburn-like rashes.
LESLEY HUDSON, age 33 from USA, survived Toxic Shock Syndrome in May 1996. "It came on suddenly" she said, "fever, diarrhoea and swollen red hands. I couldn't even get out of bed. On the third day, I was opening a new pack of tampons and decided to look at the warning leaflet. My symptoms matched those on the leaflet. I called my doctor who advised me to get to the Emergency Room right away. I was hospitalised for 4 days, before being fit enough to come home. It took a long time to completely recover though".
AMY PAVELL, a teenager from Naperville, Illinois, nearly died from Toxic Shock Syndrome in July 2003. One morning she wasn't feeling too well, but put it down to being on her menstrual cycle. By late afternoon she was exhausted and couldn't hold down sips of water. By evening, her family rushed her to Edward Hospital with a temperature of 104 degrees. The doctors identified very low blood pressure and recognised that Amy had TSS and treatment began. She was kept in for a week before being allowed home.
BETTY O'GILVIE from Kansas, died a horrible, bizarre death in 1983. A raging infection caused by a tampon made by International Playtex, resulted in Toxic Shock Syndrome. In December 1996 her family sued the company and the jury awarded them $1.5 million in compensation and $10 million in punitive damages. After lawyers' fees and expenses were deducted, the O'Gilvie family received $4.96 M of those punitive damages and the Internal Revenue Service is also going to get a big portion of it.
In LOS ANGELES COUNTY in March 2005, it was reported that five cases of Toxic Shock Syndrome had been discovered in teenage girls from the previous September. All of the teenagers at UCLA and Miller Children's hospital were critically ill, but survived. However, a 16 year old girl in Santa Clara County died in November 2004 from probable TSS, according to the county's medical examiner.
The CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH said that in the state, eight people had died from Toxic Shock Syndrome in 2002 and that there were four deaths in each of the previous three years.
The JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY in June 2004 found that cases of TSS in one region of Minnesota had more than tripled from 2000 to 2003.
Posted 6/1/2009