When I was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I didn't feel any odd lumps or nodules in my neck, but I was suffering from muscle weakness, tiredness and getting constant colds. After a particularly nasty bug I noticed that my lymph nodes never seemed to go down in size.
SIRS is nonspecific and can be caused by ischemia, inflammation, trauma, infection, or several insults combined. Thus, SIRS is not always related to infection. Venn diagram showing overlap of infection, bacteremia, sepsis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and multiorgan dysfunction.
Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is an illness caused by rare bacteria which occurs mostly in menstruating women who are using high absorbency tampons. The main cause of TSS is a common bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus. It is thought the bacteria produces toxins (poisons) which cause the symptoms of TSS. Tampons may facilitate the infection because their use may cause lacerations and ulcerations of the vaginal wall.