Toxic Shock Syndrome

It begins like a flu that grows too large too fast. High fever that knocks you flat. Vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain that runs through your entire body like glowing wires. Then comes the rash — widespread, as if the sun had burned you alive. The circulation collapses, blood pressure drops, the internal organs reel. Medically, toxic shock syndrome is a highly acute, systemic reaction to bacterial toxins — frequently triggered by staphylococci or streptococci, often in connection with tampons left in too long, wound infections, or postoperative complications. The toxins flood the body, the immune system strikes back with full force, and the entire system enters a state that can become life-threatening within a matter of hours.