I have heard some speculation that Lyme can be sexualy transmitted. Does anyone know anything about this?
Posted by Tracy9 (Member # 7521) on :
I have also heard of it, from a friend who is a patient of Dr. P in Wilton, CT. She said even though it is her husband, and not herself who has chronic Lyme, when she gets pregnant he is going to put her on antibiotics.
Posted by Susan in G'ville (Member # 8185) on :
I've heard that it's suspected, but not proven. It's certainly something to consider, if it's even remotely possible.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Lyme and syphilis are both caused by spirochetes. I don't see why Lyme couldn't be sexually transmitted. It's a blood-borne illness.
You can do a search here by clicking on the little word "search" above.
Ok, this really concerns me... For 2 reasons. First, I was diagnosed with Lyme 3 years ago, and have never heard this issue mentioned before. Second, my husband is HIV positive. We are both being treated by the same Dr. Why wouldn't SOMEONE in that office have told us this if it was true?
Posted by duke77 (Member # 5051) on :
Partly because its taboo and partly because it is not documented in stone that Lyme is sexual transmitted. It has been cultured in semen before. My money is on the fact that it is sexual transmitted. I am sure I infected my wife with Lyme. Do a search you will find many spouses here who agree with me. Yes, like someone said it is a close relative to Syphillis why wouldn't Lyme be just as contagious.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
It has been proven that Lyme keets exist in semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk and even sweat, tears, etc. Many Lyme docs believe that it is sexually transmitted. However, there are those that disagree. My Lyme doc says that we just don't know. It is worth caution and certainly worth testing a partner if any symptoms develop.
Posted by hurtingramma (Member # 7770) on :
I believe it is. I was diagnosed this summer, my hubby was diagnosed just last week. I believe I got it from him, as he spends a lot of time in the woods and is always coming home with tick bites. When he had is appointment last week, Dr. C. told him he had a very dangerous hobby (hunting); he had several bites on his legs. Believe it or not, he is waiting for after hunting season to start on the abx because he doesn't want to herx during season!
Posted by burnbitter (Member # 7088) on :
It might be possible but my experience is none of my ex-boyfriends have any lyme symptoms and it seems like it would have shown up in one of them during the last ten years... though stuff is usually more transmittable male to female than female to male.
My doctor said "you're on antibiotics so you shouldn't worry about it".
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
I think you have to think about the potential risk that you expose people to given the possibility. I don't think that just because a doctor says "no problem" that you should put other people at risk. I personally would be very concerned about putting someone else through what I have gone through without at least their knowing the risk/potential.
Posted by welcome (Member # 7953) on :
According to the research below, I don't believe there is any great risk of transmission this way.
If we're to worry about sexual transmission, we should also worry about Bb being found in standing water.
Page is here.
"Microbial adhesion to and colonization of host tissue is an early, critical event in an infection process.
In the case of Lyme disease, host tissue adherence appears to be of importance during different stages of the disease process.
Initially, during an infected tick's blood meal, a small number of spirochetes are deposited in the dermis of the host, where the bacteria appear to colonize collagen fibers (4, 5).
As the infection disseminates to other tissues, bacteria may colonize additional extracellular matrix structures, and host cells may be involved.
We previously showed that adherence of B. burgdorferi to collagen fibers involved a specific binding of the spirochete to decorin, a dermatan sulfate proteoglycan that is associated with and "decorates" collagen fibers, whereas a direct binding to collagen could not be demonstrated (6-9).
A dermal route of entry into the host appears to be important for the development of disease.
Spirochetes administered intravenously are rapidly and effectively cleared by Kupffer cells in the liver (10), whereas those inoculated intradermally consistently establish infection (11).
Perhaps the initial dermal colonization allows the organism to adapt to in vivo conditions before blood stream dissemination."
Posted by DolphinLady (Member # 6275) on :
I know lots of folks who say they either got it this way or gave it to their mates.
My llmd, top and well known, treats couples because often times they are giving it back and forth and not getting better. Once both are treated they make progress.
At a lyme conference I attended many llmds agreed that sexual transmission is happening.
While this is not yet widely accepted medical (it takes a lot to get there) fact too many folks are saying it is true.
Posted by elle (Member # 7721) on :
quote:Originally posted by DolphinLady: My llmd, top and well known, treats couples because often times they are giving it back and forth and not getting better. Once both are treated they make progress.
My LLMD told me during the first visit that my treatment would be useless if my husband and I didn't use protection during sexual activity. I agreed and she agreed to treat me.
Posted by efsd25 (Member # 2272) on :
I cannot believe we are debating this. Like SForsgren said: "It has been proven that Lyme keets exist in semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk and even sweat, tears".
My whole family has Lyme, our son was conceived after I was infected. I was working in the woods as a geologist in a highly emidemic area (Wisconsin)when I was bitten, whereas my family lived in Denver, where there is not a high incidence of Lyme. Sounds like a near perfect example to me. Dr J (CT) & Dr H (CA) both suggest that it is a "given".
This is not rocket science. The Bb bacteria is a spirochete like Treponema pallidum(syphilis) with very similar characteristics.