Fighting strep with strep

[ThinkGutBacteria]

Just FYI, there's this microbiologist named John Tagg formerly of University of Otago in New Zealand (home to Gerald Tannock, a giant in the probiotic field) who's discovered a strain of Streptococcus salivarius that kills Streptococcus pyogenes--the S in PANDAS. He claims it drastically reduces S. pyogenes invasion of host tissue, and started a company to sell it as a probiotic. Since health claims are legally thorny, he's marketing it as a breath freshener, which apparently it does as well. The name of the product is Kforce (The "K" comes from the strain name, S. salivarius K12) and it's for sale in the U.S. at BreezeCare.com

 

Theoretically, it could help reduce flares in our kids. The probiotic lozenges aren't cheap, but it might be a nice alternative/complement to antibiotics.

 

S. salivarius is included in some pill-based probiotics, but I doubt they'll "work" in your gut. With bacteria, environment is everything. A very large proportion of antibiotics currently on the market come from soil-based Streptococcus species who make the killer compounds to fend off environmental competitor species, so the treatment makes biological sense. S. salivarius and S. pyogenes are natural residents of human mouths but very few S. salivarius are potent S. pyogenes killers.

 

Anyway, it might help when kids in school are all coming down with "strep."

Edited February 5, 2013 by ThinkGutBacteria