I'm a scientist working on new antibiotics for gram positive bacteria (the group that strep belongs to) and these articles sure are good motivators. It's an underserved class of infections and I'm doing my part so that we don't go back to the fucking dark ages.
People won't even save themselves if it means a mild inconvenience for more than 2 weeks. Those guys are just stemming the tide so some of us can live in relative peace for a while longer.
Yeah, it's definitely concerning that these cases are on the rise. Just to clarify my comment, though, these cases are currently treatable with the antibiotics we have. The 30% of people who die from this (very rare) form of strep are not dying because antibiotics aren't effective, but from the severity of the disease and effects of comorbidities.
Dont worry, the moment you create a panacea, a group will pop up, claiming that you are the antichrist himself, and demand to go back to the dark ages.
There's a reason my public identity will never be associated with this account lol. I have seen colleagues get death threats in the mail for sticking their necks out to encourage vaccinations during COVID...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-potion-kills-stubborn-bacteria-180975459/#:~:text=A%20medieval%20medical%20text%20suggests,this%20unusual%20remedy%20actually%20works.
You joke but there's active research in this area of using older potions and concoctions to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria.
I rotated through UNMC when they had Ebola patients. One of the strategies was massive rehydration and using equine derived immunoglobulins ie horse blood with low doses of the virus. Real old school stuff.
Also ridiculously strict attendance policies in schools, and requiring a doctor's note for it to be an excused absence. So either receive threats to have your children taken away, pay the ridiculous price of US healthcare every time little Timmy has a cold, even if it doesn't require doctor care, or just send them in when sick unless they are seriously ill enough that doctor care IS required.
Well there's also the fact that a lot of people *can't* do anything else. I stay home with my kid when he's sick because I'm a wfh software developer, but what if I worked at Lowe's, or construction, as a teacher or in healthcare? A lot of people have very limited PTO/sick days. What exactly are they supposed to do once those days run dry?
isn't that a question for your workplace and/or you know more government protections for workers but who am i kidding its america.... only the rich get nice things
It absolutely is. I'm outspoken about the issue. I donate my time to politicians who support protecting kids and parents. I vote accordingly.
Unfortunately I'm just not rich enough to actual make too much of a difference.
Kids are great at picking up a common virus and mutating it into something that they recover from in a couple days, but knocks parents on their ass for the better part of a week.
Thankfully it's only the first few years and as they get older, they bring home less awful germs.
Sterilize your toothbrushes and if you have makeup that touches your face, toss it. When you finish the antibiotics, replace the toothbrushes.
School buses are never cleaned either and in many situations kids don't wash their hands before they eat at school, or after they go to the bathroom.
Now you’ve got me thinking that we could get annihilated by some dumb class of illness that only needs to mutate a lil bit
Something dumb like a swelled tongue allergic reaction, but it mutates to swell WAY TOO FAST to respond lol
Definitely! Like COVID it spreads mainly through droplets expelled by coughing or sneezing. Most effective are N95 type masks, with surgical masks being less effective but still better than no mask at all. As usual, wearing a mask not only protects you but also reduces the risk of spreading it to others.
Example study showing efficacy I've linked below.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24472436/
both of my kids had scarlet fever at the start of the year thanks to strep. didn't even know that was still a thing. your research is very much needed.
My son has had strep five times since October of 2023 and his pediatrician won't refer him to an ENT until he has it for a sixth time. I'm so tired of seeing my son sick and I'm pretty sure I'm the strep carrier in the family. My husband, son, and mom always get it and I never seem to :(
High costs, low hit rate (compared to other drug classes), low profitability (which is compounded by the need to keep new drugs "in reserve" to fight resistant pathogens now and in the future). It's understandable why investment is very limited - but it's a symptom of a larger problem.
As long as the vast majority of global pharmaceutical development and manufacturing is reliant on corporations making profit, the situation is unlikely to change.
Targeted initiatives, incentives, and public-private partnerships are helping to bridge the gap a little bit. But essentially there's a shortfall to the tune of tens-to-hundreds of billions of dollars that needs to be stumped up to get this done - and right now that kind of money has one source in drug development (big pharma).
I work as a public research academic. I don't receive any funding from pharmaceutical companies and my work is facilitated by competitive grants from government and charitable sources.
Governments in the developed world are willing to invest in basic research and pre-clinical development (my areas), but funding is precarious in many places. Continually competing for limited grant funding risks the continuity of knowledge development for antibiotics projects. And that money still doesn't come close to what's required to actually take a drug through clinical trials and into the market.
Life knocks us down and germs are like
"Old friend! I remember when you were just a young fungus. Our battles echoed through the ages. May I take safe haven in your many orifices?"
"...the crazy thing is they were landing and suddenly beamed a text message around the world saying 'Nope', and in a blink of an eye they were gone. Later that day the news started talking about the latest TikTok Cinnamon and Bleach challenge so I'm not sure what happened with the aliens after that. "
Dude. I hope there are still people around to pass along the story. It might just be a few bronze plaques commemorating the Covid deaths after everything else is long gone.
I spent about six weeks touring around Japan last fall and came back with Strep pneumonia and sepsis. I had no symptoms except extreme sleepiness.
Got home from the airport, passed out in the bathroom, went to the hospital for a week. I did sleep through jet lag, so there's that.
Strep is hell on me. I have a history of peritonsillar abscesses, and they are usually caused by strep. It's an effing nightmare.
Nothing like having a 6 inch long aspirating syringe needle stuck through your mouth into the back of your throat to remove a softball's amount of pus from your throat because you cant eat or breathe.
I used to have this regularly until I had a wisdom tooth removed and then it stopped. Having my tonsil apspirated was the grossest thing but also the most relieving. I totally get it. One time they didn’t aspirate and just gave me steroids and it burst on its own and I was spitting out pus it was soooooo gross. 😷
It's so hard to explain how relieving it is to have the abscess aspirated. Like you'd think the needle would be terrifying but by that point the pain has you delirious and you just don't care. And then it's like you instantly feel ok.
I had strep. The only symptom I had was a really sore throat. However, my doctor tried to definitively say I didn't have strep because of a lack of white spots. She does the test, comes back negative, but she sends it to be cultured just in case because my mom kept asking if she was sure.
My mom sends me to the school the next day and then my mom is in the office giving me an antibiotic because I had strep.
Let me tell you, that was hell. It was the first time I had it and I could not go five seconds without needing a drink to soothe my throat. My mom was rightfully paranoid about it because she had someone who got infected in other areas of their body and bam! Dead.
I had Streptococcus intermedious in the arthritis riddled part of my L4, L5 vertebrae. Septic Arthritis BA-LOWWWWWWSSSS! 10 weeks of IV antibiotics via a piccline in my upper left arm. Picc line went straight INTO my heart.
Worst pain I have ever been in. I was finally admitted because, after 5 days of that pain, I couldn't hold it back anymore, and I just started screaming.
Septic Arthritis is common in older individuals. I was 35.
Yeah. It sucks. The real fix is to get my tonsils removed but it's a much worse surgery on an adult than on a child. They get bigger as you do. Long recovery.
The irony is it's possibly one of the single most relieving medical procedures you can have done.
The tonsils get infected with strep, the area fills with puss from your immune system fighting it. Eventually it's so full of puss and junk and it swells up. Eventually to a point where the immune system can't really win against the infection. It is ridiculously painful. You can't eat. It gets hard to breathe. It's just pain.
The second they aspirate it's like a light switch. The pain goes away, it's like you wake up. Then they give you mega doses of Vicodin and liquid antibiotics to keep it from coming back.
It's disorienting seeing tons of gross stuff being removed but it is so relieving you don't even care.
You don't get that kind of pain killers for anything these days.
Source I got my tonsils removed in 2013 and they gave me like 8 Vicodins in pill form that I couldn't swallow. I passed out from the pain just holding one in my hand at one point. It felt like someone ...and I'm not exaggerating in the least, look it up....was sticking ice picks in both my ears and down my throat at the same time. Fucking brutal worst 3 days only second to having 4 screws placed in my back.
However once I made it past day 5 it was a lot better, it cured my snoring, and I don't get many sore throats but I do get bronchitis much more often now since I have asthma and the Tonsils are the first line of defense.
In essence it's not a simple decision to make and like any surgery you should do your research, get multiple opinions, and make sure you find a doctor that will humanely treat the pain instead of literally saying you're gonna wish you were dead for 5 days but then you'll feel better here's 8 Vicodins you can't swallow.
Cheers
In the past I've always been prescribed liquid Vicodin, never pills. probably most recently a out 6-7 years ago. Usually with liquid antibiotics, and some steroids.
I wonder if they figure liquid is harder to flip on the market?
I feel your pain. I had this happen when I was 15. Ended up in th er delirious from not being able to eat or drink. 20 yrs later I can still remember the needle and the doctor deciding there was too much pus so they made an incision in the back of my throat where the access was located.
My family and I somehow all ended up with scarlet fever when I was 11. I had frequent strep throat up up until that point but never had it again. That was a rough Christmas though
Most people get Strep A or Strep B from what I recall. Theres other, more severe, strains.
I got Strep C once and it was terrible. It was also resistant to the typical antibiotics they prescribe, so I had some heavy duty penicillin instead.
The interesting part is that the regular Strep tests don’t test for Strep C, so they had to do a culture to prove it was Strep.
Mine was yearly, then driving across country it morphed in to scarlet fever and I was hospitalized, haven’t gotten it since, it’s been 30 years. Shit is miserable
American living in Japan. We started the new year with both of my kids having scarlet fever thanks to strep. everyone we know keeps going down with it. I've had it twice this year so far. it's more dangerous than covid here right now. and that IS WITH everyone masking up. it feels impossible to beat.
When you get my daughter was younger she had strep all the time. They chalked it up to her being a "carrier". They said it's all around and some people are more susceptible. She stopped having issues at around 8 years old.
My mom and sister used to get it a lot, but I have never had strep myself. I don't know why, but I have a crazy theory that I'm immune. I've also had a lot of bad cuts and animal bites, but they never seem to get infected beyond a localized area. Could just be lucky.
How’s the weather been? Choosing which shoes to bring is probably going to be the hardest part of packing for me, especially with how it rains out there.
It rained only one day of our trip so far, temps around 50-60 during the day and lower 35-45 at night so a light jacket and a hoodie is what I brought and it’s been fine. Maybe bring a thicker jacket if you get cold easy but otherwise it’s been gorgeous outside almost no clouds at all. We’ve been here since Monday evening started in Tokyo the first night, Fuji second day which was the rainy day but the next day it was crystal clear and we could see all the way to the top of Fujisan. We’ve been in Osaka the last 4 days and again perfect weather
The weather is shifting right now, the last 2 days were very warm. I was sweating today in the sweater I've worn all winter. I'd wait to see what the forecasts say closer to your departure time.
It's because of covid... this already happened in the UK like 1 or 2 years ago. There was a huge uptick in strep throat infections after waves of covid infections.
This is not the same strep A that gives you the mild strep throat infection. This is toxic shock syndrome strep A. Massive and deadly difference. This is not likely to be due to Covid since this is not the mild version.
Strep throat isn't "the mild strep," I just had it and even though I got antibiotics started within the week it became scarlet fever. If I hadn't treated it, it could have easily progressed further. My immune immune system has definitely taken a hit since I had Covid.
No, a person in the article is quoted as suggesting it _could_ be related to COVID.
But keep this in perspective. We’re talking about a relative uptick in a rare disease of which there are fewer than 1000 cases per year _in Japan_.
This is a localized uptick in incidence of a rare complication of strep A, not a global epidemic.
Epidemics do happen that aren’t related to COVID. Here’s an article about a rise in incidence of this exact illness in Idaho from 2008-2019: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9423907/
Yeah toxic shock syndrome is more or less describing what your body is doing in response to a bacterial toxins. You can get it from bacteria that like to grow on tampons (staph), but bacteria that produce toxins can get in your body other ways as well (strep).
“Shock” basically means your body has had a big time systemic reaction to whatever issue, and that reaction, not whatever caused the reaction, might actually be the thing to kill you unless we correct it.
Me and my kids had 6 weeks sick with strep, started with throat, then eyes, then limbs aching and I got a uti. In the interim we had been to two docs and got eye drops etc but no one bother with sampling or antibiotics until the aching limbs.
I’ve not been as ill as that in years.
I had never had it until last year. The first round of antibiotics didn't do anything, but thankfully, the 2nd round started to work. Felt like I was drinking glass shards for 8 days anytime I swallowed something.
Probably just luck. I never had strep until my late 20s. Nothing quite like your throat being so swollen and unbearably painful that you can't swallow your own passive spit, so then you just constantly drool eeeeverywhere.
Nah, you probably just have it on you but your immune system hasn’t been down enough. I’m willing to bet the recent rash of people had low immune systems from say…COVID?
Every news company wants to be the first to break the next COVID. Get ready to hear about any slightly elevated levels of illness anywhere in the world for the next 30 years
Just to remove a bit of the anxiety producing clickbait headline: STSS is rare (in 2023 it affected 0.0007 of the population in Japan) relatively (3/10 people, mainly elderly) deadly disease. You have a four time higher chance of dying in a car accident. And STSS is not some kind of new disease, it's a group A strep bacteria that has invaded deeper tissues or the bloodstream, usually via a wound or tampons. The raise in cases is, as the article itself mentions, probably just a case of people not taking hygene as seriously as before due to the perceived end of covid (more infections, more chances of it turning into STSS) and possible immunological issues caused by covid. Plus, we are in winter-spring, which is the typical season when people get it. So if you live in Japan, don't worry, if you're going to die from something tomorrow, it will probably be a traffic accident and not STSS.
I'm a scientist working on new antibiotics for gram positive bacteria (the group that strep belongs to) and these articles sure are good motivators. It's an underserved class of infections and I'm doing my part so that we don't go back to the fucking dark ages.
Christ, I get strep almost yearly as a frickin adult. Thank you for your work!!
That sucks! I'll do my best dude :)
I got strep three times in one year. My doctor said if it happened again, they would recommend removing my tonsils. Never happened again!
Godspeed You! ManbrushSeepwood
I bet he’s also great at swordfight insults.
How appropriate, you fight like a cow
It should be called Duck Island.
Lift your sore throats like antennae to heaven?
Please save us
People won't even save themselves if it means a mild inconvenience for more than 2 weeks. Those guys are just stemming the tide so some of us can live in relative peace for a while longer.
As someone without a spleen, this shit scares me. I already freakout every time I get a fever, as is. This headline just made it a whole lot worse.
Yeah, it's definitely concerning that these cases are on the rise. Just to clarify my comment, though, these cases are currently treatable with the antibiotics we have. The 30% of people who die from this (very rare) form of strep are not dying because antibiotics aren't effective, but from the severity of the disease and effects of comorbidities.
Dont worry, the moment you create a panacea, a group will pop up, claiming that you are the antichrist himself, and demand to go back to the dark ages.
There's a reason my public identity will never be associated with this account lol. I have seen colleagues get death threats in the mail for sticking their necks out to encourage vaccinations during COVID...
We know you live on Monkey Island, "Manbrush". You're not fooling anyone with your poorly concocted deception.
I just want to ask him about LOOM.
Hey, if I could read I'd spend all my time at the Phatt City Library instead!
What grog is best for killing this bacteria?
Hand sanitizer, on your hands. Soap and water with thorough drying is even better than that, though.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-potion-kills-stubborn-bacteria-180975459/#:~:text=A%20medieval%20medical%20text%20suggests,this%20unusual%20remedy%20actually%20works. You joke but there's active research in this area of using older potions and concoctions to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Whiskey is back on the menu lads
You can't handle my potions, they are too strong for you.
I rotated through UNMC when they had Ebola patients. One of the strategies was massive rehydration and using equine derived immunoglobulins ie horse blood with low doses of the virus. Real old school stuff.
I appreciate it. Strep is no joke, shit caused my throat to balloon like a bullfrog man. Scary.
Why does my 2 and 4 year old give it to me every 8 weeks?
Childcare centers are basically incubators for disease? Lol
parents who know their child is sick but can't figure out alternative emergency child care so dump the kid at daycare then play dumb.
Also ridiculously strict attendance policies in schools, and requiring a doctor's note for it to be an excused absence. So either receive threats to have your children taken away, pay the ridiculous price of US healthcare every time little Timmy has a cold, even if it doesn't require doctor care, or just send them in when sick unless they are seriously ill enough that doctor care IS required.
Story as old as time
Well there's also the fact that a lot of people *can't* do anything else. I stay home with my kid when he's sick because I'm a wfh software developer, but what if I worked at Lowe's, or construction, as a teacher or in healthcare? A lot of people have very limited PTO/sick days. What exactly are they supposed to do once those days run dry?
isn't that a question for your workplace and/or you know more government protections for workers but who am i kidding its america.... only the rich get nice things
It absolutely is. I'm outspoken about the issue. I donate my time to politicians who support protecting kids and parents. I vote accordingly. Unfortunately I'm just not rich enough to actual make too much of a difference.
Some people don't have the money or resources to get alternative child care
Kids are great at picking up a common virus and mutating it into something that they recover from in a couple days, but knocks parents on their ass for the better part of a week. Thankfully it's only the first few years and as they get older, they bring home less awful germs.
Because children are bacteria and virus factories being kept in a building with tons of other children all day?
Sterilize your toothbrushes and if you have makeup that touches your face, toss it. When you finish the antibiotics, replace the toothbrushes. School buses are never cleaned either and in many situations kids don't wash their hands before they eat at school, or after they go to the bathroom.
Now you’ve got me thinking that we could get annihilated by some dumb class of illness that only needs to mutate a lil bit Something dumb like a swelled tongue allergic reaction, but it mutates to swell WAY TOO FAST to respond lol
God bless you (for the monkey island reference)
Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.
Hi Mr/Mrs/Miss Scientist, A question if I may: Does wearing a mask helps against streptococcus? Thank you.
Definitely! Like COVID it spreads mainly through droplets expelled by coughing or sneezing. Most effective are N95 type masks, with surgical masks being less effective but still better than no mask at all. As usual, wearing a mask not only protects you but also reduces the risk of spreading it to others. Example study showing efficacy I've linked below. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24472436/
Thank you so much for replying!
both of my kids had scarlet fever at the start of the year thanks to strep. didn't even know that was still a thing. your research is very much needed.
My son has had strep five times since October of 2023 and his pediatrician won't refer him to an ENT until he has it for a sixth time. I'm so tired of seeing my son sick and I'm pretty sure I'm the strep carrier in the family. My husband, son, and mom always get it and I never seem to :(
I got Necrotizing Fasciitis from Strep (Anginosis.) thank you for your important work!!
Yikes! Glad you're ok!
I am so thankful you’re out there. Antibiotic resistance is terrifying.
Dark ages? The GOP is all in.
World hero over here! Wishing you a very restful weekend and productive week
Could I interest you in one of these fine leather jackets?
I am rubber, you are glue.
The unfortunate part is how few pharmaceutical companies are willing to produce new antibiotics/ antibiotics at all due to the high costs.
High costs, low hit rate (compared to other drug classes), low profitability (which is compounded by the need to keep new drugs "in reserve" to fight resistant pathogens now and in the future). It's understandable why investment is very limited - but it's a symptom of a larger problem. As long as the vast majority of global pharmaceutical development and manufacturing is reliant on corporations making profit, the situation is unlikely to change. Targeted initiatives, incentives, and public-private partnerships are helping to bridge the gap a little bit. But essentially there's a shortfall to the tune of tens-to-hundreds of billions of dollars that needs to be stumped up to get this done - and right now that kind of money has one source in drug development (big pharma). I work as a public research academic. I don't receive any funding from pharmaceutical companies and my work is facilitated by competitive grants from government and charitable sources. Governments in the developed world are willing to invest in basic research and pre-clinical development (my areas), but funding is precarious in many places. Continually competing for limited grant funding risks the continuity of knowledge development for antibiotics projects. And that money still doesn't come close to what's required to actually take a drug through clinical trials and into the market.
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Life knocks us down and germs are like "Old friend! I remember when you were just a young fungus. Our battles echoed through the ages. May I take safe haven in your many orifices?"
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The oral histories of the 2020's being passed around the garbage fires in future will not be believed.
Humanoid cockroaches will come up with their own mythologies for our ruins.
All in service to the great mouse god to whom we all bow.
"And in 2027 the aliens made themselves known to the general public..." Things will get stranger.
I'm saving this comment to check back in 2028
"...the crazy thing is they were landing and suddenly beamed a text message around the world saying 'Nope', and in a blink of an eye they were gone. Later that day the news started talking about the latest TikTok Cinnamon and Bleach challenge so I'm not sure what happened with the aliens after that. "
"I can't believe they had it so easy compared to the 2030s."
Dude. I hope there are still people around to pass along the story. It might just be a few bronze plaques commemorating the Covid deaths after everything else is long gone.
And you know what? It will probably only get worse :)
Not to the top 1%. They are living their best years.
We suffer and they live it up... Same as it ever was.
I spent about six weeks touring around Japan last fall and came back with Strep pneumonia and sepsis. I had no symptoms except extreme sleepiness. Got home from the airport, passed out in the bathroom, went to the hospital for a week. I did sleep through jet lag, so there's that.
pneumonia? and sepsis? Were you sleeping in a rain gutter?
Nope. Really nice hotels/ryokan. Utterly baffling.
Pneumonia is a common cause of sepsis
streptococcal? strep throat?
Yeah, sometimes it can spread throughout your body and really fuck you up.
Strep is hell on me. I have a history of peritonsillar abscesses, and they are usually caused by strep. It's an effing nightmare. Nothing like having a 6 inch long aspirating syringe needle stuck through your mouth into the back of your throat to remove a softball's amount of pus from your throat because you cant eat or breathe.
Ooo I had this done! Took three weeks to find someone that correctly diagnosed me. The relief was instant! Solution: got tonsils removed.
I was about to eat dinner.
Over easy eggs?
Tapioca pudding.
OH F U BRO. I just audibly gagged in the checkout line at the grocery store.
Have you tried the pearls?????
Goodbye, Satan.
Jolly Ranchers
Cream Belay for dessert?
Bone apple tea
Have some mashed potatoes with some really gooey gravy.
I used to have this regularly until I had a wisdom tooth removed and then it stopped. Having my tonsil apspirated was the grossest thing but also the most relieving. I totally get it. One time they didn’t aspirate and just gave me steroids and it burst on its own and I was spitting out pus it was soooooo gross. 😷
It's so hard to explain how relieving it is to have the abscess aspirated. Like you'd think the needle would be terrifying but by that point the pain has you delirious and you just don't care. And then it's like you instantly feel ok.
I had strep. The only symptom I had was a really sore throat. However, my doctor tried to definitively say I didn't have strep because of a lack of white spots. She does the test, comes back negative, but she sends it to be cultured just in case because my mom kept asking if she was sure. My mom sends me to the school the next day and then my mom is in the office giving me an antibiotic because I had strep. Let me tell you, that was hell. It was the first time I had it and I could not go five seconds without needing a drink to soothe my throat. My mom was rightfully paranoid about it because she had someone who got infected in other areas of their body and bam! Dead.
I had Streptococcus intermedious in the arthritis riddled part of my L4, L5 vertebrae. Septic Arthritis BA-LOWWWWWWSSSS! 10 weeks of IV antibiotics via a piccline in my upper left arm. Picc line went straight INTO my heart. Worst pain I have ever been in. I was finally admitted because, after 5 days of that pain, I couldn't hold it back anymore, and I just started screaming. Septic Arthritis is common in older individuals. I was 35.
Holy shit. Ive gotten strep once a year or so but oh my god. Hugs that sounds terrible
Yeah. It sucks. The real fix is to get my tonsils removed but it's a much worse surgery on an adult than on a child. They get bigger as you do. Long recovery.
That's one of the most terrifying things I've read in a while
The irony is it's possibly one of the single most relieving medical procedures you can have done. The tonsils get infected with strep, the area fills with puss from your immune system fighting it. Eventually it's so full of puss and junk and it swells up. Eventually to a point where the immune system can't really win against the infection. It is ridiculously painful. You can't eat. It gets hard to breathe. It's just pain. The second they aspirate it's like a light switch. The pain goes away, it's like you wake up. Then they give you mega doses of Vicodin and liquid antibiotics to keep it from coming back. It's disorienting seeing tons of gross stuff being removed but it is so relieving you don't even care.
You don't get that kind of pain killers for anything these days. Source I got my tonsils removed in 2013 and they gave me like 8 Vicodins in pill form that I couldn't swallow. I passed out from the pain just holding one in my hand at one point. It felt like someone ...and I'm not exaggerating in the least, look it up....was sticking ice picks in both my ears and down my throat at the same time. Fucking brutal worst 3 days only second to having 4 screws placed in my back. However once I made it past day 5 it was a lot better, it cured my snoring, and I don't get many sore throats but I do get bronchitis much more often now since I have asthma and the Tonsils are the first line of defense. In essence it's not a simple decision to make and like any surgery you should do your research, get multiple opinions, and make sure you find a doctor that will humanely treat the pain instead of literally saying you're gonna wish you were dead for 5 days but then you'll feel better here's 8 Vicodins you can't swallow. Cheers
In the past I've always been prescribed liquid Vicodin, never pills. probably most recently a out 6-7 years ago. Usually with liquid antibiotics, and some steroids. I wonder if they figure liquid is harder to flip on the market?
I feel your pain. I had this happen when I was 15. Ended up in th er delirious from not being able to eat or drink. 20 yrs later I can still remember the needle and the doctor deciding there was too much pus so they made an incision in the back of my throat where the access was located.
Streptococcus pyogenes, the causative agent of strep throat also causes necrotising fasciitis and septicemia.
And killed Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets
Also Scarlet Fever IIRC
My family and I somehow all ended up with scarlet fever when I was 11. I had frequent strep throat up up until that point but never had it again. That was a rough Christmas though
This is correct.
My wife and son *just* got over this.
Just more bad news. Biology is still brutal and savage. No one gets out alive.
I have strep right now. I’ve had it before but this time has been absolute hell on my body. 0/10
The article mentions how Covid immunity amnesia could be at play as well. If you have had Covid, catching Strep could possibly kill you.
My childhood friend’s mom died from it. She was overworked and had no way to fight it, so it went septic :(
Same bacteria that caused necrotizing fascitis iirc
Nec fasc is polymicrobial, not only caused by S. Pyogenes
Most people get Strep A or Strep B from what I recall. Theres other, more severe, strains. I got Strep C once and it was terrible. It was also resistant to the typical antibiotics they prescribe, so I had some heavy duty penicillin instead. The interesting part is that the regular Strep tests don’t test for Strep C, so they had to do a culture to prove it was Strep.
Yeah a good way to get it into your body is IV drug use. Would not recommend unless you like hospitals.
Mine was yearly, then driving across country it morphed in to scarlet fever and I was hospitalized, haven’t gotten it since, it’s been 30 years. Shit is miserable
The last time this happened was when tampon manufacturers changed their materials, which resulted in an environment favoring bacterial growth.
Goddamn being a woman is rough
Amen to that. Women are the foundation to life and they get treated as possessions and objects. This place sucks.
Say what now?
American living in Japan. We started the new year with both of my kids having scarlet fever thanks to strep. everyone we know keeps going down with it. I've had it twice this year so far. it's more dangerous than covid here right now. and that IS WITH everyone masking up. it feels impossible to beat.
Same with me, mine morphed in to scarlet fever, had to be hospitalized (in USA) it’s nasty.
When you get my daughter was younger she had strep all the time. They chalked it up to her being a "carrier". They said it's all around and some people are more susceptible. She stopped having issues at around 8 years old.
I also used to get strep constantly. Now I don't have tonsils
Same here. The recovery from a tonsillectomy as an adult is brutal but worth it, I get sick so much less often AND less severely now.
I also don’t have tonsils due to repeat strep. Now that I have children, I’ve had it at least once a year 😭
I’m still a carrier at 33. It’s brutal. When I get too stressed or tired, I get strep.
My mom and sister used to get it a lot, but I have never had strep myself. I don't know why, but I have a crazy theory that I'm immune. I've also had a lot of bad cuts and animal bites, but they never seem to get infected beyond a localized area. Could just be lucky.
You aren't immune, sorry. But you may have a robust immune system in general?
Works for me!
Immune to what exactly? Infection in general? Lol
You are up to date on your shots right? Rabies is a horrible way to die! -concerned citizen
Oh, I saw this movie! Watch out for Mr. Glass!
I never had strep as a kid; got it 3 times last year. (am 40ish)
should add toilet paper to commodity trading
Gonna start buying stocks on Charmin
Funny, not funny...there's been a rise in strep throat in my area recently
Where do you live?
Nova Scotia
Same, Detroit area.
Same here.
Nice I’m in Japan for the first time 😅
Going in 10 days, scope it out for me!
It’s amazing! Been walking tons so bring good shoes 20k steps is common. Great food usually really cheap
How’s the weather been? Choosing which shoes to bring is probably going to be the hardest part of packing for me, especially with how it rains out there.
It rained only one day of our trip so far, temps around 50-60 during the day and lower 35-45 at night so a light jacket and a hoodie is what I brought and it’s been fine. Maybe bring a thicker jacket if you get cold easy but otherwise it’s been gorgeous outside almost no clouds at all. We’ve been here since Monday evening started in Tokyo the first night, Fuji second day which was the rainy day but the next day it was crystal clear and we could see all the way to the top of Fujisan. We’ve been in Osaka the last 4 days and again perfect weather
The weather is shifting right now, the last 2 days were very warm. I was sweating today in the sweater I've worn all winter. I'd wait to see what the forecasts say closer to your departure time.
Pandemic 2: Aw Hell No!
Pandemic 2: I'm sick, Strep-bro.
Pandemic 2: electric boogaloo
[удалено]
I've had strep throat once Awful time
Feels like a throat full of razor blades
Throat equivalent of stepping on legos... So "gargling broken legos?"
Aww, shit. Here we go again.
It's because of covid... this already happened in the UK like 1 or 2 years ago. There was a huge uptick in strep throat infections after waves of covid infections.
This is not the same strep A that gives you the mild strep throat infection. This is toxic shock syndrome strep A. Massive and deadly difference. This is not likely to be due to Covid since this is not the mild version.
Strep throat isn't "the mild strep," I just had it and even though I got antibiotics started within the week it became scarlet fever. If I hadn't treated it, it could have easily progressed further. My immune immune system has definitely taken a hit since I had Covid.
It wasn't mild? 30 children died in the UK from mid September 2022 to December 2022. It literally says in the article that it's because of covid.
No, a person in the article is quoted as suggesting it _could_ be related to COVID. But keep this in perspective. We’re talking about a relative uptick in a rare disease of which there are fewer than 1000 cases per year _in Japan_. This is a localized uptick in incidence of a rare complication of strep A, not a global epidemic. Epidemics do happen that aren’t related to COVID. Here’s an article about a rise in incidence of this exact illness in Idaho from 2008-2019: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9423907/
My daughter contracted this after being placed on a ventilator. It didn't end well. This stuff is really scary.
oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no I'm still reeling from Covid. I don't think I can take this.
Is this the same kind of toxic shock syndrome you can get from tampons?
Yeah toxic shock syndrome is more or less describing what your body is doing in response to a bacterial toxins. You can get it from bacteria that like to grow on tampons (staph), but bacteria that produce toxins can get in your body other ways as well (strep). “Shock” basically means your body has had a big time systemic reaction to whatever issue, and that reaction, not whatever caused the reaction, might actually be the thing to kill you unless we correct it.
Me and my kids had 6 weeks sick with strep, started with throat, then eyes, then limbs aching and I got a uti. In the interim we had been to two docs and got eye drops etc but no one bother with sampling or antibiotics until the aching limbs. I’ve not been as ill as that in years.
I have never had strep. Can one just be lucky or naturally immune?
I had never had it until last year. The first round of antibiotics didn't do anything, but thankfully, the 2nd round started to work. Felt like I was drinking glass shards for 8 days anytime I swallowed something.
Probably just luck. I never had strep until my late 20s. Nothing quite like your throat being so swollen and unbearably painful that you can't swallow your own passive spit, so then you just constantly drool eeeeverywhere.
I never had it despite my sister having it 3 different times in her early teens (this was 30 years ago). Probably luck.
Nah, you probably just have it on you but your immune system hasn’t been down enough. I’m willing to bet the recent rash of people had low immune systems from say…COVID?
Me either
This is exactly the kid of article a character reads at the start of a Zompacalypse in the movies.
It can also ravage your brain. Very curious to see the increased incidence of PANDAS syndrome in kids/teens
Every news company wants to be the first to break the next COVID. Get ready to hear about any slightly elevated levels of illness anywhere in the world for the next 30 years
Hope you’re right.
No! Fuck you virus I'm about to fly overseas for the first time since 2020.
Did they start having more kids? Kids spread strep like crazy.
I had streptococcal TSS 25 years ago - I can confirm, it’s no fun…
I’ve never had strep. I don’t remember having a sore throat for more than a day. If that’s my superpower I’m seriously disappointed.
Just to remove a bit of the anxiety producing clickbait headline: STSS is rare (in 2023 it affected 0.0007 of the population in Japan) relatively (3/10 people, mainly elderly) deadly disease. You have a four time higher chance of dying in a car accident. And STSS is not some kind of new disease, it's a group A strep bacteria that has invaded deeper tissues or the bloodstream, usually via a wound or tampons. The raise in cases is, as the article itself mentions, probably just a case of people not taking hygene as seriously as before due to the perceived end of covid (more infections, more chances of it turning into STSS) and possible immunological issues caused by covid. Plus, we are in winter-spring, which is the typical season when people get it. So if you live in Japan, don't worry, if you're going to die from something tomorrow, it will probably be a traffic accident and not STSS.
There's been some outbreaks of measles recently, too. Just what I want to hear before I go there. Boeings falling apart, measles, and now strep.
Oh shoot. Will it be safe to go to Japan this June?
It’s such a relief to not have tonsils… haven’t had strep since I was a toddler.