New mean team: flu and toxic shock.

New mean team: Flu and toxic shock

Clinical cases of a deadly disease duo--which may in facthave felled residents of ancient Athens--have been noted for the first time by the medical community, according to two articles in the Feb. 27 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. The authors report the deaths last year of 10 influenza patients in Minnesota and Virginia that were apparently due to toxic shock syndrome (TSS). More commonly associated with the use of tampons or contraceptive sponges, the potentially fatal condition is characterized by fever, sloughing of skin, shock and other symptoms. It has been attributed to toxins produced by the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (SN: 6/15/85, p.377). The researchers do not know why the infection occurs in certain flu cases.

The average age of the nine Minnesota patients was 26 years,and several died at home before they could be hospitalized. Because of the rapid course of TSS, physicians are cautioned to be alert for TSS symptoms in influenza patients. Although this phenomenon had not been described previously in the medical literature, an accompanying editorial points out that a 1985 report suggested, based on historical accounts, that the influenza-TSS link may have caused an Athens "plague' in 5th century B.C.