What is "Systemic Strep"

[matis_mom]

A friend of mine told me her daughter has "systemic strep", supposedly in her gut. That is kind of what my son had as well. But, problem is, they are treating her with supplements and other natural stuff, NO ANTIBIOTICS.

She said her daughter is NOT contagious, which I believe, otherwise everyone in her family would have it right now, but the thing is this little girl was over at our house at the beginning of May for my daughter's party. That was a Saturday. That following Monday PANDAS ds showed an increase in symptoms and I clearly remember saying to my husband: "I bet one of our guests had strep!"

Now, of course, I cannot prove it was her, it could have been anyone else, or something else causing the mild flare-up.

But I do wonder,

1) is "systemic" strep contagious?

2) Are PANDAS kids so sensitive as to react even to that?

From months of reading posts in this forum, I would answer NO to no. 1, and YES to no. 2., as it seems PANDAS kids react to carriers in the household, who are supposedly not contagious.

What do you all think?

[peglem]

I think your suposition is correct. While "carriers" probably do not shed enough to overwhelm the average immune system and cause infection, they probably do shed enough to cause the immune system to mount a defense (which keeps even our kids from getting a full blown infection), in the case of PANDAS that means those nasty auto-antibodies.

[matis_mom]

I guess we'll just have to avoid close contact with this little girl then... she's coming to a party here today, good thing we'll all be outside

[tpotter]

1) is "systemic" strep contagious?

2) Are PANDAS kids so sensitive as to react even to that?

From months of reading posts in this forum, I would answer NO to no. 1, and YES to no. 2., as it seems PANDAS kids react to carriers in the household, who are supposedly not contagious.

What do you all think?

 

 

The answer to #2 is correct. Others (including Diana Pohlman) have noted that some of our kids (including Diana's) do react to a microbial infection (look at her website: pandasnetwork.org) A microbial infection is exactly what you are describing.

[trggirl]

How do you diagnose strep in the gut?

[matis_mom]

How do you diagnose strep in the gut?

For my son, it was diagnosed through a stool analysis. He had GI symptoms off and on. I am not sure what the "protocol" for diagnosis would be, but for him, the combination of symptoms, strep in the stool, and elevated titers was pretty definite.