Danger

Question

Dear expert team,

I am the father of a daughter with CF (6).
For some time, I have a romance with a young woman who also suffers from CF. She is Pseudomonas positive (mucoid form).
Now my question:
Can it come with the exchange of intimacies (kissing, ...) to the colonization of Pseudomonas in my nose-throat tract that I in return can transfer to my little daughter? Or is there no danger in this way?
Many thanks for your answer.

Answer

Hello,
altough I do not know any concrete data on the transfer of mucoid PA from a PA-positive patient to a PA-negative patient via a "healthy" intermediate-"host", there is every indication that the germ, which surely has a unpleasant survivability in humid environment, can also persist on the humid nasal mucosa or in the mouth-throat tract of a healthy individual. The natrual cleaning mechanisms will then also eliminate the germ again - mostly by swallowing the rinsing secretions; how long this can last in the most unfavorable case, I cannot tell you. A healthy human, who transports germs like this, can then for sure also be a source of infection for an up to that point PA-negative individual.
If this is now relevant and important for your decision, I cannot judge well. We only now for the minority of cases, how the transmission takes place and either do not know, what protects against. Thus I can report from a CF-couple (both suffering from CF), where one partner was positive and the other remained negative for years.
I hope that you find for all persons involved a good and practicalbe way.
With my best wishes
Prof. Dr. TOF Wagner

21.01.2013