Word: tss
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...first tampon product into national distribution, the ads boasted, "It even absorbs the worry." But Rely tampons soon provoked frantic worry. In 1980 the federal Centers for Disease Control tied tampons to an outbreak of rare-sometimes fatal-toxic-shock syndrome. One study of a group of TSS sufferers found that 71% of them used Rely. Though the product had captured 20% of the market, the company recalled it. Then came the lawsuits-400 against Procter & Gamble, 100 or so against four other manufacturers. Last week plaintiffs and defendants in those cases were watching closely when a federal jury...
...asked. "I've never won one and got nothing." Other lawyers, though puzzled by the verdict, had considered the case one of the weakest among those pending. After using Rely in May 1980, Deletha Lampshire, now 18, of Littleton, Colo., said she experienced typical TSS symptoms, including low blood pressure, high fever and peeling skin. She spent six days in the hospital. Since then, Lampshire told jurors, she has suffered memory loss and depression. "I felt dirty, and I still do," she said. "No man would want to marry me." An economist testified that her difficulties, which included poorer...
...Centers for Disease Control warned last September that the risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a rare but sometimes fatal bacteria-related disorder that usually strikes menstruating women, might be heightened by the use of tampons, particularly the Rely brand from Procter & Gamble. Since that alert and the prompt removal of Rely from the market, the incidence of TSS has dropped dramatically. The CDC announced last week that the number of new cases in the U.S. reported each month had declined from 106 in September to 39 in December...
...figures strengthen but do not prove suspicions that Rely was the leading cause of TSS. Other tampon brands have also been implicated. The percentage of menstruating women using tampons exclusively has dropped from 70% to 55%. Although the apparent easing of the TSS threat is welcome news, puzzled scientists still do not know how the insertion of a mass of absorbent material could create an encouraging environment for mischievous microbes...
Since 1975 there have been more than 400 reported cases of TSS, which is caused by the common Staphylococcus aureus bacterium and occurs primarily in menstruating women under 30. While fatalities have been few-only 40 have been recorded-the revelations about TSS disturbed tampon makers, who have built a market of 50 million regular users. First marketed in 1936 by Tampax, which had bought the patents for the product from the Colorado doctor who invented it, tampons are big business. All told, sanitary products account for roughly $800 million of the $10 billion spent each year on medical devices...