Toxic Shock Syndrome: A Lasting Legacy

Toxic Shock Syndrome: A Lasting Legacy

On Thursday, October 19th the “We Were There” lecture series presented “Toxic Shock Syndrome: A Lasting Legacy,” at the Roybal Campus, Alexander D. Langmuir Auditorium.

Welcome to “We Were There,” a quarterly lecture series featuring past and present CDC researchers as they share their personal perspectives on historically important, CDC-led epidemiologic and laboratory investigations. This series will provide insight into the rich past of CDC and give the audience a chance to hear first-hand accounts from the responders.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a disease outbreak associated with tampon use sickened healthy women. In this presentation, CDC’s original disease detectives describe how they unraveled the link between Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) and high-absorbency tampons. Learn how their investigations substantially decreased TSS cases and had a lasting impact on public health confidentiality.

Joining us for this special presentation were Kathryn N. Shands, MD, Arthur Reingold, MD and Gene Matthews, JD. After the presentation, all speakers participated in a question and answer discussion.