A high school girl was hospitalized with a life-threatening reaction after swimming in the Ozarks with a tampon inserted.
Kelci Anthony of Pittsfield, Illinois, was driving home from a family vacation when she started feeling nauseous, but attributed it to travel sickness.
In fact, the toxins were circulating in her bloodstream and attacking tissues and organs. This was the early stages of toxic shock syndrome.
Within hours, her blood pressure dropped to dangerously low levels, her fever soared to 103 degrees Fahrenheit and she developed a red rash. She had to be rushed to the pediatric ICU to prevent her body from shutting down.
Kelci’s mother, Ashley Anthony, said: “She was in multiple organ failure. Our little girl was dying. Every parent’s worst nightmare.”
Kelci assumed her nausea was simply car sickness and dismissed what would become the first symptom of a potentially life-threatening illness.
After interviewing the family and retracing his steps, doctors said they believed Kelci had suffered a bacterial infection contracted from the lake water.
“She had contracted toxic shock syndrome, not from misusing tampons, but because she used one while swimming in Lake Ozarks,” her mother said.
The bacteria Staphylococcus aureus causes most cases of toxic shock, although it can also be caused by the bacteria that causes strep throat.
These bacteria also grow in warm freshwater environments, including lakes and rivers, and have been detected in the Ozarks and Great Lakes, including beaches around Lake Erie.
“Dirty water had been absorbed through the rope and the bacteria in the water caused a staph infection, which led to toxic shock syndrome. She had also developed a septic infection (which led to the closure),” her mother continued in a heartfelt Facebook post.
Bacteria that enter the body are what cause toxic shock, and leaving tampons in for too long greatly increases this risk.
Tampons, especially high-absorbency ones, create a warm, welcoming environment for bacteria to grow. When a tampon is left in for more than eight hours, bacteria has more time to multiply.
Swimming in contaminated water, as was the case with Kelci, can also lead to the bacteria entering the body, either through the vagina or through cuts in a person’s skin.
Inserting and removing tampons can also cause cuts in the vaginal walls, which can become entry points for harmful bacteria that fill the bloodstream with toxins.
Bacillus also lives on the skin and inside the nasal passages of many healthy people without causing harm. It is part of a natural, healthy balance of bacteria that live on the skin.
But once in the body, S. aureus bacteria enter the bloodstream and infect body tissues, which can also lead to tissue death and require limb amputations.
When staph infects the body, it launches a massive immune response that increases inflammation in the body and worsens symptoms such as fever and muscle aches.
Toxic shock can be fatal because of the dizzying speed with which it destroys the body and activates the immune system.
Severe drops in blood pressure caused by shock can mean inadequate blood flow to vital organs such as the heart and kidneys, causing widespread damage.
Toxic shock syndrome can also cause small blood clots to form in the bloodstream, further reducing blood flow to organs.
And the heart may have difficulty pumping blood effectively due to the severe drop in blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular collapse.
Toxic shock syndrome comes on quickly and causes fever, muscle aches, rash, flu-like symptoms, and organ damage.
Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to prevent death from toxic shock, which can be fatal in 30 to 70 percent of cases.
Ms Anthony posted an article about her daughter’s ordeal in the hope of helping other girls and their mothers look out for the signs.
Their harrowing experience began while they were having a summertime fun at the Lake of the Ozarks, a mountain range that spans Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
His mother, Ashley, said Kelci had suffered organ failure and sepsis, but doctors now say he will make a full recovery.
Mrs Anthony and her husband Tim (pictured) called their daughter’s ordeal “a parent’s worst nightmare”.
Anthony says his daughter’s deterioration was due to tampon use, not misuse, but bacteria the tampon absorbed while Kelci was in the lake.
The family spent three days there, swimming and enjoying the outdoors.
On the way home, Kelci assumed her nausea was simply car sickness and dismissed what would become the first symptom of a potentially life-threatening illness.
Kelci felt ill and went to stay with her mother during her shift as a surgical technician at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. Early in the morning, she developed a high fever and took ibuprofen at home.
The next day, she woke up to go to the bathroom and immediately passed out. Kelci and her mother immediately went to an urgent care center, where doctors tested her for strep throat and COVID.
Although both tests were negative, Kelci’s blood pressure was dangerously low and her heart rate was abnormally high, so it was recommended that they go to the emergency department.
The Jacksonville hospital emergency room immediately put Kelci on a bed, but when she started to turn red, she was sent to St. Johns Children’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois.
Ms Anthony said: ‘We arrived at St Johns and she was put on the General Paediatrics floor but only for about 30 minutes and then she was transferred very quickly to the Paediatric ICU unit.
‘At that time, her blood pressure was 79/44 and her heart rate was 160. Her temperature was 102 (medicated) and she looked sunburned. After many tests, 3 IVs, 1 arterial line, and 1 central line, and an extremely long night…we found out what was wrong with our little girl.’
Her reddened skin, due to the body’s intense immune response to the bacterial toxins, was what alerted doctors that she was suffering from toxic shock syndrome.
In this case, blood flow to the skin increases as blood vessels dilate and fluid leaks into surrounding tissues, causing a sunburn-like rash.
Doctors immediately went to work, giving him five antibiotics, blood pressure medications and intravenous fluid infusions.
Kelci was told she couldn’t use tampons again because she likely now has a lifelong heightened sensitivity to the toxins produced by S. aureus. And even if a person doesn’t show symptoms, the bacteria can linger on the skin and mucous membranes, increasing the chances of recurrence when a tampon is used again.
Doctors expect Kelci to make a full recovery, according to her mother, Ashley.
The nurses and doctors were “wonderful,” Ms Anthony said, adding that they were constantly by Kelci’s side from early Saturday morning until 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
She said: ‘The original idea was that she would be here until the 20th at least. Today, we are trying oral medications to make sure she tolerates them. If she does and her infection and heart levels continue to go down… WE WILL BE COMING HOME!!!’
