Niece with repeat Strep

[Elisabet1]

I pretty much do not want my niece around my children anymore. She is 14 yrs old and for years, she gets Strep over and over again. To make it worse, she nor my sister will mention her symptoms until after she visits. For example, I gave birth to my son (he is 4 yrs old) and she came to the hospital to visit. She held him a lot and everything. They left. My sister calls me and tells me she took her daughter straight to urgent care from the hospital because she was so sick and turns out, she has strep. 

 

This is typical. And she wants to babysit now. My sister just texted that she has strep again. She gets it multiple times a year. Anyone have any clue what causes this? She goes to the doctor and gets medications. But I kind of can't help but wonder if she is doing something wrong that causes this to happen over and over again.

[HSmomof2]

Sorry. :( It so irritates me when people knowingly expose others to their illnesses. I had strep fairly frequently as a child, never was able to figure out why. I did stop getting it as a teen, and have never had it since. But, my mom always got me antibiotics and I stayed home until I was well.

[Matryoshka]

I pretty much do not want my niece around my children anymore. She is 14 yrs old and for years, she gets Strep over and over again. To make it worse, she nor my sister will mention her symptoms until after she visits. For example, I gave birth to my son (he is 4 yrs old) and she came to the hospital to visit. She held him a lot and everything. They left. My sister calls me and tells me she took her daughter straight to urgent care from the hospital because she was so sick and turns out, she has strep. 

 

This is typical. And she wants to babysit now. My sister just texted that she has strep again. She gets it multiple times a year. Anyone have any clue what causes this? She goes to the doctor and gets medications. But I kind of can't help but wonder if she is doing something wrong that causes this to happen over and over again.

 

.Probably someone else in her family has it and is asymptomatic, and just keeps passing it back to her.  The carrier can even be the family pet.  They should get everyone tested and treat; that should break the cycle.

 

[redsquirrel]

My little niece is the same way, poor thing. She got strep more than I thought was possible for a person to have it. Everyone in the family is being treated as an asymptomatic carrier and my niece just had her tonsils out. They were so, so scarred and infected from all the strep that the tonsils really had to come out.

 

We are all hoping this year is easier for her.

 

But I wouldn't have your niece around my kids. My sister kept her daughter away from everyone if she was at all symptomatic. And who takes a sick kid to see a new baby? That is just weird

[Spryte]

It sounds like someone in their family is an asymptomatic carrier to me, too.  Can you mention that to your sister?  Maybe she doesn't know that that could be the case?

 

 

[NotSoObvious]

Agreeing with others. Everyone in the family needs to get tested. 

 

My dd who never got strep got her tonsils out and her strep prone twin stopped getting it!

[cjzimmer1]

Passing germs around when you know you aren't feeling well is just mean. 

 

 

On the strep, I was one who got it all the time.  We didn't have pets but my mom was a silent carrier.  So every time I came down with it (2-3 times a winter), they treated her as well.  My sisters got it about once a year but mine was always more often.  I had it regularly until my mid 20's.  When I was first married, my husband used to joke that if I walked into my office building (it was 12 stories high) and someone had strep I would get it. And then it just suddenly stopped. I had it once in my 30's and once in my 40's even though my kids have had it multiple times.  Not sure why it has improved but very thankful it has.  Some people are just more susecptible than others.

[MrsMommy]

I don't think you can "do something wrong" to keep getting strep. Some people are just really prone to that particular illness. 

[Unicorn.]

.Probably someone else in her family has it and is asymptomatic, and just keeps passing it back to her.  The carrier can even be the family pet.  They should get everyone tested and treat; that should break the cycle.

 

 

This.  2 of mine kept getting strep one year.. as in the first week of every month!  Got us all tested, and turns out child #3 was a carrier.  And when they got it 2 months later, best friend got tested, and she was a carrier.  After those two girls got treated, we didn't get it again for several years!

[OneStepAtATime]

I had strep almost continously for years as a child.  At one point it affected my joints and I ended up in a wheel chair.  The cause?  My own tonsils were infected so deeply into the tissue that antibiotics weren't touching it.  As soon as I was off antibiotics, I would reinfect but there was a period of no symptoms then a few weeks later there I would be, sick again.  They finally removed my tonsils.  At the time it was common to put tonsils in a jar so the child could take them home.  The doctor said they were so infected they just destroyed them.

 

The entire family needs to be checked to see if someone is an asymptomatic carrier, as others have mentioned, and they ought to look at removing her tonsils.

 

 

[KungFuPanda]

Are they tossing her toothbrush? Sometimes people forget about the toothbrush.

[Caclcoca]

Right after my 3rd ds was born, I got strep.  Eight of the twelve kids in my then ds4's preschool class was out with strep.  After three rounds of antibiotics (for me), we realized that my ds4 was contagious without symptoms.  He just kept giving it back to me.  They took my tonsils out that spring, and so far I haven't gotten strep again.  Your niece may have another family member or friend that she keeps getting it from.  That person may not realize that they are sick.