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Strep - Link to lyme disease or heart issues? Recommended tests?

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Posted 7/17/2015 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
Several years ago a few alternative-medicine practitioners (with mostly EAV machines) detected strep in my wife. (Some of these tests also indicated lyme disease as well, interestingly enough.) Even though she can't remember ever having strep throat, it was interesting that several of these machines indicated she had strep.

Questions:
(1) Is there any links between strep and lyme disease?
(2) Any reliable and accurate tests you can recommend to test for strep?
(3) Any link between strep and heart issues?

Thanks for your info!
Posted 7/17/2015 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
Hi! Cool never heard of and EAV machine, so I had to look it up. Pretty neat!

There are lots of different types of strep bacteria, but the one we often hear about is streptococcus pyogenes aka Strep A. It's the one that people have when they go around saying, "I have strep throat."
Now of course people can have lots of other strep in their body and it normally encompasses our whole body. Strep pneumoniae is another type that cause pneumonia and is all too often found in deadly sepsis.

1) Not necessarily. Someone can have lyme and not have strep, and people get strep who don't have lyme. It is known that the lyme infection can compromise the immune system and leave someone susceptible to infections. Strep can be one of them.

2) The most accurate and reliable test for strep infection is the culture. It is where a medical professional will swab the back of your wife's throat. That swab will be sent to a lab and plated and allowed to grow for 24 to 48 hours. It will either be negative or positive. There is also the rapid strep test which is pretty sensitive (maybe 80%) and the swab will be used right away and tested. Just because the rapid test is negative doesn't mean it's truly negative as 80% leaves the 20% undetected. So culture is always preferred.

3)Absolutely! This is a well known fact. It is Rheumatic Fever leading to Rheumatic Heart Disease following an untreated or ineffectively treated strep infection, mostly streptococcus pyogenes. usually I wouldn't vouch for Wikipedia but please, this is the best read about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheumatic_fever
Posted 7/17/2015 5:48 AM (GMT 0)
Oh, and if you are concerned about strep and the heart, ASO (anti-streptolysin O) titer is a perfect blood test which can detect antibodies to strep.

Wooh, I hope I made sense. I'm all nerdified right now.

Post Edited (JoOnTheGo10) : 7/16/2015 11:53:41 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/17/2015 10:15 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks @JoOnTheGo10 for the helpful and informative post! :) I'll have to research this more.
Posted 7/17/2015 11:02 AM (GMT 0)
If she doesn't remember having strep (she probably would because it SUCKS, very painful) then she is probably just a carrier of strep rather than "had strep". Some people carry the strep bacteria in their throat for life and will always test positive on a throat swab with our without symptoms. So she could be a carrier and never will develop symptoms.

Is their any link between Strep and Lyme Disease? I would say yes because I have Lyme Disease and I also always get Strep Throat. I get strep probably twice a year (every 6 months or so) and I get other sore throats 10 times a year. I've always found it so strange how I always get strep so often... I did as a kid a few times as well. With my positive Lyme test this past May it makes sense to me now.... and my LLND.
Posted 7/17/2015 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks @JessicaMommy! I hope you feel better.
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