Added: 01/05/2007 |
Looking At a Well-Publicized Problem for the CDCIn 1936 a Denver physician invented a new way for women to trap the blood released during a period. That physician created the world's first tampon. He did not then know that he had invented a potential problem for the CDC. The following article provides details on that problem, and it explains what solutions the men and women at the CDC offered, in hopes of preventing a repeat flood of phone calls about that problem.
The first calls to the CDC did not disclose the nature of the organism that was causing fevers of 102 degrees F plus a red rash, dead and shedding skin cells, a drop in blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, kidney dysfunction, liver failure and blood problems. The first callers did not know that those symptoms had been caused by Staph aureus, an especially virulent strain of bacteria.
Once the CDC had identified the causative agent, it then faced a second problem. The CDC could not recommend use of penicillin, because S. aureus is resistant to penicillin. In addition the medical community then lacked any sort of diagnostic kit that could help a physician to detect the presence of S. aureus. Officials in the CDC, Reproductive Health wing suggested a need for tighter controls on the qualities of the tampons on the shelf.
At that time companies were competing with each other to invent a super absorbent tampon. The tampon called Rely was then the most absorbent tampon on the market. The number of problems reported by users of Rely suggested that it might be a bit too absorbent.
When a tampon absorbed a large amount of blood from the vagina, it also absorbed any of the S. aureus in the vagina. As that S. aureus stayed in the body of the woman, trapped in the fibers of the tampon, it could grow and multiply. It could then release its harmful toxins, the substance that was causing the reported symptoms.
A careful examination of the reports had allowed researchers at the CDC to identify the cause of a new disorder—toxic shock syndrome. The CDC suggested two reasons that use of a tampon could cause toxic shock syndrome. The CDC suggested that the tampon, while in the warm body of a woman, could facilitate the growth of the S. aureus.
The CDC also theorized that the materials in the tampon could, upon removal of the tampon, tear-away some cells of the vagina. The traumatized vagina would then be more susceptible to the toxins in the S. arueus. Replacement of the old tampon with a new tampon could, over a sufficient time period, lead to production of those toxins.
The CDC undertook two actions aimed at preventing, or at least limiting, further problems with toxic shock syndrome. The CDC encouraged menstruating women to limit the amount of time that they allowed any tampon to remain inside their body. Having thus educated women about the potential danger in any tampon, the CDC then took a second important action.
The Center for Disease Control declared that any tampon should be considered a Class Three medical device. As a Class Three medical device, each tampon had to meet certain standards. That classification led to the establishment of absorbency ratings for each manufactured tampon.
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