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In another feat of genetic engineering announced last week, researchers isolated the bacterial gene for a poison believed to cause toxic-shock syndrome. The disease made national headlines in 1980, when it caused the sudden death of 42 people, most of them menstruating women (cases in men are rare). Last year ten deaths were reported. In a paper published in Nature, three leading researchers concluded that the disease is produced by a toxin made by the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Only about one in 1,000 adults is susceptible to the toxin, according to the authors. By isolating and then replicating the gene for the toxin, scientists will be able to make large quantities of the poison, which can then be used to develop a simple blood test to detect susceptibility. According to Microbiologist Richard Novick, director of the Public Health Research Institute of New York City, the screening technique could be ready for study within six months.
Those found to be vulnerable would be warned of the early signs of the disease-sudden high fever, dizziness and vomiting or diarrhea. Women might be advised not to use tampons, which have been associated with the bacterial growth that leads to toxic shock.
—By Claudia Wallis