What is the difference between toxic shock syndrome and septic shock?

TSS is a shock...: Caused by a poison made by bacteria that do not penetrate into the bloodstream. Septic chock is caused by bacteria actually floating in the blood; the poison that causes the shock is "endotoxin", actually proteins inside the bacterial cell. Only a few types of bacteria can cause tss; many more types can cause sepsis.

Slightly different: Toxic shock syndrome due to staph, or strep infections- they produce toxins that circulate and disease in the body. Where as septic shock is a manifestation of bacterial infection, with low BP etc. Tss also can have lowbp.

They're related.: Toxic shock syndrome is a specific cause of septic shock. Tss is caused by staph and sometimes strep bacteria which produce a toxin that can injure many organs. Septic shock is when an infection overwhelms the immune system and causes exaggerated inflammation usually due to bacterial infection, but sometimes viruses or fungal infections as well. If not corrected it has a high fatality rate.