Word: staphylococcus
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...caused by a toxin-producing strain of the common bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, carried benignly in the respiratory and genital tracts of perhaps one out of three people. Under certain conditions -- a wound, some infections, the presence of a tampon or contraceptive sponge -- the bacteria multiply. If the toxin-producing strain is present, such proliferation can lead to TSS. The symptoms are dramatic and develop quickly: high fever, a sunburn-like rash, severe vomiting and diarrhea, culminating in shock, in which blood pressure plummets and circulation deteriorates. Doctors usually try to head off this life-threatening condition by administering intravenous fluids...
Researchers have known for several years that TSS is caused by a toxin produced by a common and usually harmless bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus. In laboratory studies, the Harvard team, led by Infectious Disease Specialist Edward Kass, found that the bacterium produces up to 20 times as much toxin as usual in the presence of certain tampon fibers. Kass's group discovered that the fibers -- polyester foam and polyacrylate rayon -- soak up large amounts of magnesium, which is normally present in vaginal tissue and fluid. When the magnesium is removed from the bacterium's environment, the bug responds by churning...
...virus that worries Foege the most. "I fully anticipate that possibly in our lifetime we will see another flu strain that is as deadly as 1918. We have not figured out good ways to counter that." The same holds for the most common of bacteria and viruses, like the staphylococcus, which are adept at evolving into new forms...
...staphylococcus bacterium was clearly the cause of the outbreak, but the medical question was "Why?" Through further epidemiological studies, the medical sleuths found that most of the new cases under investigation involved menstruating women who had been using tampons. A majority had used Procter & Gamble's Rely tampons, a new superabsorbent brand, which may have provided an environment that encouraged bacterial growth. After the product was removed from the market, the number of reported toxic shock cases dropped sharply...
...jury's negligence verdict. It did not explicitly find that Rely caused toxic shock. But Microbiologist Philip Tierno of New York University Medical Center clearly bolstered the plaintiffs case with his testimony that the cellulose chips in Rely "can provide the sole nutrient" to encourage the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium sometimes present in the vagina. The bacteria, in turn, generate poisonous waste products, which are circulated by the blood...