Strep, Lyme Mycoplasma

[LaurenK]

If all of them can cause symptom flares, is there something that these bacteria have in common??

[Tamistwins]

I think they all cause inflammation sorry I don't have more to add just felt bad that no one responded.

 

Tami

[cobbiemommy]

Ticks?? But seriously, tests are rarely run for two of these bacteria. Also, the fact that latent viruses can weaken the immune system and leave the body more susceptible to infection. Just my two cents.

[LNN]

I don't know about myco p, but some strains of strep and lyme have an M protein on their outer surface that looks very very similar. It's speculated that you can get cross-reactivity and a confused or dysfunctional immune system could mistake the two. Apparently, certain proteins found in the basal ganglia are also similar, thus the auto-antibody attack of this tissue. It's speculation and it's been a long time since I was up on this vein of research, but that's the jist. They are also both bacteria that can alter the host environment (suppressing the immune system, creating biofilms) that make it possible to establish chronic infections that are relatively impervious to antibiotics.

 

I suspect the similarity in outer proteins is one element that makes it plausible to researchers that all of these could be part of PANS.

[dcmom]

LaurenK-

 

In our experience, once strep triggered PANDAS, flare ups can be caused by many illnesses: H1N1, common cold virus, strep, even loose teeth, and I have heard a prominent pandas researcher say stress.

 

For us, the strep caused the initial episode and got the ball rolling. Doctors have been coming around to the fact that other viruses/bacteria may cause PANDAS-like illness, or that the triggering strep infection may be missed and the trigger never found.

[bws]

LaurenK-

 

In our experience, once strep triggered PANDAS, flare ups can be caused by many illnesses: H1N1, common cold virus, strep, even loose teeth, and I have heard a prominent pandas researcher say stress.

 

 

My daughter Pandas was repeatedly aggravated by an infected ingrown toenail!!

[norcalmom]

darn - I wrote a reply to this and thought it posted but it got tossed bcs my connection was down unbeknowst to me.

 

I think that the issue is that myco P and Lyme can effect the BBB. cunningham's theory is that several things can make a kid at risk - 1)genetics (history of rheumatoid factors or immune deficiency), 2) chronic infection, and 3)environment. At risk + strep = pandas. And once it starts, hard to find the initial risk factor because it gets complicated.

 

Lyme and myco can actually cross the BBB - as can other infections, opening it up directly or by inflamation. Strep infection causes a rise in the production of anti-neuronals (this in NORMAL kids) due to something called "molecular mimicry". This isn't a problems since in most people antibodies are too large to cross the BBB and attack the brain, but in our kids - they are getting across. And the way the immune system works - its a feedback loop that learns from itself. And what it is learning in our kids case is that the antien that fits these auto-antibodies is being found (in their case it is their brain) and the immune system calls for more and more of these antibodies. And, it does it sooner and sooner because it learns from itself - that is how it developes immunity.