Varicella Zoster and Staphylococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome in a Young Man

STAPHYLOCOCCAL toxic shock syndrome (TSS), which was first reported by Todd et al,1who described the disease in children, subsequently received widespread clinical and public recognition as an epidemic that affected many menstruating women.2,3 Intensive epidemiologic and laboratory investigation linked TSS to the use of tampons and to the presence of specific toxin-producing staphylococci in the vagina.4-7After the withdrawal of certain tampon products from the marketplace and, possibly, other changes in catamenial use, the incidence of TSS in menstruating women has apparently declined.8The syndrome, however, and variants of it have been increasingly recognized in other populations. Toxic shock syndrome has been described in postpartum and postmenopausal women, postoperative patients of both sexes, and prepubertal children.1,4,5,9We recently cared for a patient whose case illustrates the growing number of circumstances that may predispose to or be associated with TSS. Report of a Case A