Doctors found that the women got sick soon after their menstrual periods began and that most used tampons. Cause Toxic shock syndrome occurs when bacteria multiply in the body and release poisons into the bloodstream. The poison, or toxin, causes a series of changes in the body that lead to the life-threatening set of symptoms known as shock. This disease often occurs in menstruating women who use super-absorbent tampons.
Bacteria can grow on the fibers used in the tampons.
If the tampons are not changed often enough, women who are sensitive to the toxins can become ill. Wounds infected with staph bacteria can also produce toxic shock . The same kind of infection is more often associated with blood poisoning , but it is thought that certain strains of staph have begun to produce more virulent poisons that induce shock. In shock blood pressure drops dramatically. This can deprive the vital organs of enough blood to function correctly.