Table 2.

Salient differences between septic shock and toxic shock syndrome [1, 5, 7, 11, 12].

Septic shock	Toxic shock syndrome
(i) It may be caused by a dysregulated host response to the infection	(i) It is caused by exotoxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus
(ii) Multiorgan failure is possible	(ii) Reversible renal failure is frequently reported
(iii) No skin desquamation occurs	(iii) Skin desquamation is common
(iv) Rash or soft tissue necrosis is not a common finding	(iv) Soft tissue necrosis and skin discoloration may be present
(v) Thrombocytopenia although may be present, it is not included in the SIRS criteria for the diagnosis	(v) Thrombocytopenia is a criterion for the diagnosis