Canadian Teen Dies on School Trip from Toxic Shock Syndrome

In 2017, 16-year-old girl from Canada died an apparently mysterious death during a school trip. The kids had to spend the night on Hornby Island, near the island of Vancouver, when her colleagues found her lying dead in her bed. Later, the coroner revealed the girl fell victim to toxic shock syndrome.

The girl died on a school trip

Sara Manitoski went on an educational trip from her school at a cabin on Hornby Island when her friends had the most unpleasant surprise. The next morning after arriving on the island, they noticed she didn’t stand up from her bed, but they thought she was still sleeping. Therefore, they went for breakfast and left her there.

When they returned in the room, Sara was still lying in bed in the same position. Her alarm had already gone off, but she wasn’t moving. When they saw this, they immediately alerted the teachers, who called the paramedics. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. Sara was dead.

The coroner revealed the girl had toxic shock syndrome

When she arrived at the cabin, Sara ate few food and complained of menstrual pain. Then, she went to sleep, and a few of her friends heard her barely breathing during the night. One year after this whole incident, the coroner finally revealed what had happened. It turns out they had identified some toxic shock syndrome symptoms and deadly bacteria present in her body.

When the doctors found her, the girl still had her tampon inside. Also, she had a strange redness all over her chest, neck, arms, thighs, and the lower part of her abdomen. However, the coroner couldn’t tell if the bacteria came from the tampon or had a different origin.

Toxic shock syndrome does occur rarely, but it can easily become deadly if left untreated. The disease appears whenever the body gets into contact with toxic bacteria. At first, it exhibits flu-like symptoms but, if you ignore them, the disease can turn deadly in only two days.

Image source: Wikipedia