Contrary to popular belief, organic tampons and menstrual cups (very popular these days) do not protect against toxic shock syndrome any more than other means of intra-vaginal protection, according to a recent study.
Contrary to popular belief, using menstrual cups or organic tampons does not protect against toxic shock syndrome, a rare and acute infectious disease, potentially fatal, caused by a bacterial toxin that enters the bloodstream following a infection with a pathogen. In any case, this is what a new study published in the journal of the American Society for Microbiology Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
“Our results do not support the hypothesis that suggests that tampons made exclusively from organic cotton may be inherently safer than those made from a blend of cotton and rayon,” explains Gérard Lina, professor of microbiology at Claude Bernard University. from Lyon. We observed that the space between the fibers which contributes to the air supply in the vagina also represents the major site of growth of Staphylococcus aureus (bacteria causing toxic shock, Editor’s note). ” The growth of Staphylococcus aureus is thus greater in tampons, the material of which has been unstructured during manufacture, than in unmodified tampons.
The risk of staphylococcus aureus higher with the cup
The results of the study also show that menstrual cups are not safer than tampons and that they require similar precautions. The researchers even observed a greater growth of Staphylococcus aureus and a higher production of toxins in menstrual cups than in tampons, possibly due to the extra air introduced into the vagina by this type of protection.
Fifteen intra-vaginal protection products currently on the market were tested by the researchers, namely 11 types of tampons and four types of menstrual cups. They used the “modified tampon bag method” by first placing the swabs and sections in plastic bags, then injecting liquid and a trace of bacteria taken from a patient. having suffered a toxic shock in 2014, and finally closing them and leaving them for eight hours. None of the previous studies of toxic shock and intravaginal protection products have so far included menstrual cups, which are very fashionable.
What are the health risks ?
Menstrual cups and organic tampons should therefore be changed as regularly as possible. Women using menstrual cups should also boil them before each use.
“Some women are carriers of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium which is not normally dangerous, explains to LCI Dr Gérard Lina, medical biologist at the CHU de Lyon. But wearing a tampon for a long time can ‘block’ it in the vagina. . So, it multiplies and produces dangerous toxins “, and a potential toxic shock. Most of these infections are easy to cure without sequelae under two conditions: take antibiotics quickly and hope that they are not facing a resistant microbe. Otherwise, the blood supply decreases and blood pressure drops, which can cause unconsciousness, coma or death in more severe cases. The bacterial poison can attack the muscles, kidneys, liver, heart and lungs, causing amputation.
Since the end of the 1990s, the cases of toxic shocks have increased each year in France: 5 in 2014, 19 in 2011 and 22 in 2014. Further proof that the war against antibiotic resistance due to our overconsumption of these drugs (and their use in breeding) is far from won.
The ecological impact
On average, a woman uses 11,000 tampons in her lifetime. In terms of pollution, they have a considerable impact: according to a classification of plastic waste Established in 2016 by the NGO Surfrider, tampon applicators are among the ten plastic waste most frequently found in the oceans. Towels also have an ecological footprint. From the book Flow: The Cultural History of Menstruation, (Flux: the cultural history of menstruation), an average woman throws in the trash, and in her lifetime, between 100 and 150 kg of “towels, tampons and applicators”.
In recent years, women have had more choice in their intimate protection. Whether it’s menstrual cups, washable pads or organic cotton tampons, all are more environmentally friendly. If women are turning more and more to these alternative intimate hygiene products, it is also because they are more respectful of women’s health. At a time when the major brands of feminine hygiene products continue to have to justify themselves on the composition of their products and are regularly implicated in cases of toxic shock syndrome, these new protections appear to be safer for whom wants to take care of his intimate health while limiting his ecological footprint.
* Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is a rare, acute, potentially fatal infectious disease caused by a bacterial toxin that enters the bloodstream as a result of infection with a pathogen.
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