with whom I am on intimate terms (it's a "she"). She says that it is relatively common.
In the last two years, I've gotten Streptococcal Pharyngitis (strep throat) three times. Each time has been directly after an appointment with a lady, with the 1-3 day incubation period fitting the situation like clockwork. In each circumstance, a visit to the doctor and a round of penicillin fixed me right up. So...
Has this scenario happened to other folks out there? You go and visit a nice provider with no outwardly-apparent signs of ill health, then have your throat on fire needing antibiotics a few days later? Are there particular playtime activities that would be more likely to transfer strep? DFK? DATY? DATO?
Does the frequency of saliva transfer with numerous people make providers more likely to be unknowing symptom-free carriers of strep?
And to answer the valid and obvious follow-up question, I do not hobby frequently enough to have passed the strep on unknowingly, and wouldn't play anyway under circumstances where I could be contagious.
Thanks for any information or other opinions you might have on the issue!
** Posted with alias because some people may incorrectly correlate strep with other STDs. I didn't want that false association following me even though I am tested and clean, except the odd bout of strep. I also didn't want people backtracking through my reviews causing problems for the ladies. I will follow up particularly good advice and such with PMs. **
with whom I am on intimate terms (it's a "she"). She says that it is relatively common.
Happened to me after a provider visit about 6 weeks ago.
But to say Strep is an STD is quite far-fetched. It is one of the most common ailments seen in elementary schools.
I'm not trying to say strep is equivalent to other more serious STDs. Simply that if you get it from having sex, it would be sexually-transmitted by definition. I am in no way implying that it can't be gotten non-sexually, or that strep-as-STD is the most frequent method of transmission. Just asking about the prevalence as it applies to our particular hobby.
give you strep throat because you cannot avoid ingesting the germ if you have your mouth on it. I don't know that you could get it from DATY...I have never heard of strep-pussy...lol. I am positive you could get it from kissing. If it was the same provider each time...I would suggest finding another provider.
I prefer to not give advice on a HO board, any more than you should seek legal advice on this board, though it is sought out all the time.
Please contact your primary care doctor and for all matter legal, please search the ambulance routes for a chaser.
Cant speak for you, but according to the latest health statics, streptococcal pharyngitis is mostly commonly spread among family members, second only to school, and then 3rd, the work place.
Strains of both group A strep and group B strep can be spread via both kissing and oral sex.
Most of us carry strains to GAS and GBS in our mouths and on our skin to which we have personal immunity. But that immunity is extremely strain-specific. Scientists have been working on a strep vaccine since the early 1900's. So far, no dice, due to the wide variability of the strains.
Because we are each immune to our own strains, we can have low quantities of these in our mouths without ill effect. It is only in those who are not immune to that particular strain that they will multiply sufficiently that consensus sensors in the bacteria will trigger toxin production.
By definition, providers kiss a lot of people; and have a lot of people's mouths on their privates. Over time, they acquire very broad GAS and GBS immunities. The quantities they carry of any given strain, due to their immunity, is both below the threshold for production of toxic symptoms and not enough to be transmitted to immunologically normal persons through casual contact.
However, behaviors such as kissing and DATY can transfer enough quantities of these strains that if the hobbyist has not already developed an immunity to them, he will likely get sick. Illnesses range from strep throat through pneumonia and life-threatening flesh-eating manifestations.
It is important to understand that the fact a hobbyist gets sick with strep after seeing a provider does NOT mean that she is sick. She is simply carrying small quantities of GAS/GBS that are perfectly innocuous to her; but pathogenic to those who are not immune.
Some hobbyists who see her will become ill, and others will not. Moreover, even a hobbyist who gets strep from the first visit, if he visits her 30 days later, will not get strep from the next visit because he has developed immunity to the strains she carries. (Unless she has acquired yet another strain that will be novel to the hobbyist in the interim.) This tends to be more of a problem for low volume hobbyists than high volume hobbyists for obvious reasons.
One other thing. There are a wide variety of bacteria OTHER THAN Strep that we carry in our mouths, throats and privates. Many of these bacteria have the capacity to be pathogenic to those who have not been previously exposed to them and thus have no acquired immunity. This includes bacteria responsible for various forms of exudative pharyngitis that do not test positive for strep yet are susceptible to antibiotics, as well as serious diseases such as pneumonia.
In dealing with providers, I have acquired non-strep bacterial exudative pharyngitis, GAS-caused pharyngitis, and a round of pneumonia. In none of these cases were the providers actually sick or showing toxic symptoms. I simply had not been previously exposed to the bacterial strains that they carried.
It stands to reason that one's odds of coming into contact with a hitherto unknown bacterial strain are far greater when kissing someone for whom you are #587 than someone for whom you are #11.
There is also an element of paradoxical immune compatibility. What we ultimately harbor in our mouths is largely dictated by our genetics. Those who we can kiss harmlessly because of similar genetics are those with whom we will have the least chemistry because women prefer mates whose immunities are different.
So followup visits with ladies from whom you acquired strep have a disproportionate likelihood of being hotter.
“This tends to be more of a problem for low volume hobbyists than high volume hobbyists for obvious reasons.”
The CUMULATIVE problem or risk is the larger for high volume hobbyist. Remember we all start out as low volume hobbyist. The risk may decrease with each hobby event because we develop immunity to newly exposed strains to but it is never zero. A high volume hobbyist who sees 500 ladies over his hobby career will definitely be at greater risk of getting 1, 2 3, or 4 or so on infections than a hobbyist who see 50 ladies in his hobby career.
BTW streptococcus pathogens are opportunistic infectious agents. They are a very common strain of bacteria that can live in the throat and nose for months without causing any harm. Many get the infection when their immune system is suppress. A hobbyist with immunity can still get a strep infection if the immune system is weaken by stress, exhaustion or with sever cold or flu.Most who get strep throats are in the the 5 to 15 age group indicating hobby activity is not a big vector for the spread of the infectious.It is mainly spread mainly by aerosol droplets from breathing , coughing, sneezing and does not requiring intimate contact of kissing.
-- Modified on 6/7/2010 3:07:19 PM
Indeed, these pathogens can be opportunistic; but they are also communicable. In fact, strep B is sufficiently problematic for oral sex that some colleges have issued "dental dam for daty' advisories to halt its spread.
And you are right that risks in general tend to accumulate with numbers. Kind of like pulling the trigger 5 times instead of once when playing Russian Roulette. Nevertheless, immunities gained in earlier hobbying tend to reduce risk (assuming one isn't warn down) in later hobbying.
Of course, there ARE pathogens to which not only is their no immunity; but earlier infections make you even more susceptible to later ones.
But I dig what you are saying; which is one reason why I am a low-volume hobbyist who seldom sees more than 2-3 new ladies yearly with the rest being repeats.
great discussion, one of the better here.
Strep throat is cause by Strep A and not Strep B. Strep B is associated with more serious medical condition such as Necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating) and menigintis. There are about 30 strains of streptococcus A that are possible involved in strep throat. All are ubiquitous in the environment. As a result we have all been exposed to theses pathogens and develop immunity against most if not all by our late teens, long before most of us became hobbyist or sexual active. Certainly strep throat is highly contagious but general only if your immune system weaken by stress, exhaustion or a sever cold or flu not unlikely condition in a college setting. Again the primary way strep throat is spread is from inhaling aerosols from sneezing and coughing by individual with active disease. However damage to the skin or other injury may allow the bacteria to overcome the natural protective mechanisms of the body, leading to local infections of most concern is MRSA
What college have issue dental dams for DATY to halt the spread Strep Throat? Even if it was so it does not mean it was stupid thing to do. Think about it, how effective is dental dams going to be in preventing the spread of strep throat by DATY when Strep A is primarily found in the nose and skin and throat of a person with active disease? Did they issue dental dams to prevent the spread from DFK a vastly more likely route of infection than DATY. The issuing of dental dam by colleges I am aware of was to impede the spread of STDs like Herpes, HPV and gonorrhea, not Strep throat.
Strep throat if ever is rarely transmitted by DATY!!!!
One error, Necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating) is cause by a Strep A
BTW the major reason why there is no vaccine against strep A is because the antigen - the piece of the bacterium common to nearly all strains and most easily recognized by the body's immune system that would be used in a vaccine is also the most dangerous part. It causes inflammation and the dangerous overreaction of the immune system that leads to heart damage. No need to take this risk because strep throat infections are easily treatable with antibiotic.
-- Modified on 6/9/2010 7:48:17 AM