Strep just curious about outbreaks

[Hopeny]

Last year when everything fell apart DD was in second grade, I received it must have been at least 40 strep notifications during the year. I wondered if a kid was a carrier. Granted that DD started school late this year (switched back from private), but I have only gotten ONE notification so far. Trying to be a little nosy to see if the other classes had a problem I mentioned it to the nurse (its a new nurse and I have never discussed PANDAS with her) and she told me that she has lots of strep on one side of the school (K-2) and not on the other (3-5) Not that it matters at this point but I am wondering could DD's 2nd grade teacher have been a carrier? Teacher told me she had Lyme but got better (based on her emotional state, and other stuff, she didn't seem better to me ) Or is it just that older kids get it less. Curious about other experiences

[Missmom]

They say older kids don't seem to get strep as much, but that is not seeming to be the case around our school. Or it may be that I am just paying attention more than most people, because when I hear any mention of strep I panic... My son is in seventh grade and just changed schools from an elementary k-6 school, to a high school 7-12th. I was hoping that now that he was not around the little children any more he would be "less"exposed... Anyway, not the case. It is so frustrating.

[ThinkGutBacteria]

Avoidance is really tough (especially at school during the winter). Here's an article that might be of interest entitled, "Lactobacilli Reduce Cell Cytotoxicity Caused by Streptococcus pyogenes"

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3067128/

 

You can get probiotics or (prebiotics that feed probiotics) into a third-grader by mixing the white, flavorless powder into vanilla ice cream (or dairy-free alternative).

[Missmom]

Avoidance is really tough (especially at school during the winter). Here's an article that might be of interest entitled, "Lactobacilli Reduce Cell Cytotoxicity Caused by Streptococcus pyogenes"

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3067128/

 

You can get probiotics or (prebiotics that feed probiotics) into a third-grader by mixing the white, flavorless powder into vanilla ice cream (or dairy-free alternative).

Hi thinkgut.....,

I skimmed the article you posted but am somewhat confused. You seem very knowledgable and I think you are on to something with your theory, so maybe you can help me understand. I get that certain probiotic strains are able to help your body fight toxins and bad bacteria, but if the strep is in the tonsils or hiding under biofilms, etc... Or even harvesting in the ear or nose, how can gut bacteria help fight that? I do give my son culturelle every day, do you think that is one of the better strains?

Thx

Missmom

[airial95]

We were innundated this year as well - my daughter missed 10+ days of school the first half of the year just because there was so much strep in her classroom. I've found that one of the critical factors is not only how good the school is at notification, but also how good the classroom parents are about reporting it as strep when their kids are sick.

 

We had that problem last year, and had to send out several reminders to the class throughout the year. This year, my daughter's school got a new computer system that tracks the absences. When they get one from her class (or the adjoining class that shares a restroom), it automatically flags it for review - if the voicemail doesn't specify why the child is absent, the school will call/email to find out if it is strep. It's really worked for us - but our kid's school is fantastic about trying to help. Last year we were the only PANDAS case (but the new school nurse had 2 cases in her old school, so she was familiar), this year they have 3 cases, and will be getting their 4th next year (my son), so they thought to use the computer system to help track the strep.

[Hopeny]

We were innundated this year as well - my daughter missed 10+ days of school the first half of the year just because there was so much strep in her classroom. I've found that one of the critical factors is not only how good the school is at notification, but also how good the classroom parents are about reporting it as strep when their kids are sick.

 

We had that problem last year, and had to send out several reminders to the class throughout the year. This year, my daughter's school got a new computer system that tracks the absences. When they get one from her class (or the adjoining class that shares a restroom), it automatically flags it for review - if the voicemail doesn't specify why the child is absent, the school will call/email to find out if it is strep. It's really worked for us - but our kid's school is fantastic about trying to help. Last year we were the only PANDAS case (but the new school nurse had 2 cases in her old school, so she was familiar), this year they have 3 cases, and will be getting their 4th next year (my son), so they thought to use the computer system to help track the strep.

 

Wow your school sounds amazing! Unofrtunately not ours. I got the blank look when I made a few comments about OCD from Strep, I have left it that DD has chronic strep and has issues with it. Since Lyme causes the same issues, and at least they have heard of it, that seems to be "ok" with them. My pediatrician amazingly even wrote "chronic Lyme" on DD's health form so it will be good support for the 504.

[ChrissyD]

So a question...what do you do if your child has a classmate with strep? Do you add or change antibiotics? Keep them home from school? My son is already on a treatment dose of Augmentin so I'm not sure what if anything we would change due to a strep exposure. What's your protocols?

[Hopeny]

So a question...what do you do if your child has a classmate with strep? Do you add or change antibiotics? Keep them home from school? My son is already on a treatment dose of Augmentin so I'm not sure what if anything we would change due to a strep exposure. What's your protocols?

I would watch them for any behavior change and if already on abx I would not worry as much. Though I would probably get them swabbed a few days after exposure just to be super safe.

[airial95]

Hopeny - we've always presented PANDAS as primarily a rheumatic fever of the brain - pathology is the same as rheumatic fever. PERIOD. Then we go into that neulolgical symptoms can include: blah blah blah. I've found that by bringing up the behavioral/psych aspect first and then saying it's caused by strep we get either blank stares - or skepticism that our kid either needs more dicipline (HA!) or psych meds. Once we started describing it this way - we get little to no push back, and are usually met with eagerness to learn more. At that point, I come clean about the controversies - but remind them that the connection was only made 20 years ago - and that they HAVE SEEN the differneces in my kids when strep is in play. I'm also careful to describe the OCD, etc... as the "neurological" symptoms of the disorder - it seems to sit better with most people who don't understand that it's not a psychiatric condition.

 

As far as what to do if there is strep in the classroom - my protocol is different by child. My daughter is much more mild, if she is on a treatment dose of abx, I would send her to school, introduce regular motrin (if she's not on it already) with instructions to call if there are issues. If she is NOT on abx, I keep her home and usually take her in to the ped for a check to be safe (we have an awesome PANDAS friendly ped- if there's lots of strep in school, he'll often put her on abx to be safe). It's written into her 504 that we can keep her home when there's lots of strep.

 

My son - on the other hand, we would keep home for at least a couple of days - on abx or not. He had caught strep on EVERY type of abx out there - as well introduce Motrin (if not already) and automatically take him in to get checked. We've been lucky so far - he's in a special-ed pre-K for the last 3 years with only 5-7 children in the classroom - so exposure there has been kindly limited...I hold no such expectations next year when he's in K at the same school as his sister!!

[ThinkGutBacteria]

Probiotics like L. reuteri break up bile salts, which pathogens use to produce their biofilms. So even if probiotics enter your gut, they can affect growth of bacteria elsewhere. They also lower LDL cholesterol by the same mechanism. (Cholesterol is also a kind of "door" through which invading pathogens use to enter host cells.) Good bacteria can also disrupt co-infecting species that S. pyogenes need to wreak havoc (like influenza virus).

 

When applied topically, honey can break up biofilms too via two distinct mechanisms. I wrote a paper on it for one of my bio classes but it's on my other laptop. Garlic is another, albeit weaker, biofilm buster.

Edited February 7, 2013 by ThinkGutBacteria