[Toxic shock syndrome in 8 children].

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of patients with toxic shock syndrome (TSS) in a paediatric hospital.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis.

SETTING

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

METHOD

Analysis of the medical records on 155 patients admitted between January 1982 and January 1992 suffering from shock, 8 of whom had TSS.

RESULTS

Five out of 8 TSS patients were under 5 years of age. All the patients needed mechanical ventilation. All patients survived. In 7 patients a probably causative focus of infection was found. The cultures of 6 patients showed growth of Staphylococcus aureus, those of 2 patients showed Lancefield group A beta-haemolytic streptococci (bacterial culture in one, increased antibody titer in the other). Systematic phage typing was not performed.

CONCLUSION

Although TSS is a relatively rare disease in young children, it is a potentially lethal one, early recognition of which is very important.