Kissing

Question

Hello,
I am now 17 years old and suffer from CF. I have fallen in love and we are just ahead giving each other a kiss for the first time. I never had a boyfriend before. My mother is of the opinion it would be too dangerous to kiss if I suffer from CF. Is that right?
Best regards,
A.

Answer

Dear A.,
to be in love is a wonderful feeling and I am very happy for you, that you are just right now experiencing it. Often it is like this, that the feeling of a strong affection is accompanied by the wish to kiss or to do "even more". To fall in love is not turning into real love in every case, therefore it is for sure a good advice, to let your mind also play a role.
However, back to the kiss and your question. When kissing, it is indeed like this, that germs can be transmitted, in healthy people this is in general no problem. The confrontation of the body with the bacteria of the partner can even be advantageous for the immune system. However, in case of people with infectious diseases, germs can be transmitted via the saliva during kissing. The airways of patients with CF are normally colonized with different germs. Dependent on the kind of germ the patient is colonized with and if he is just in an acute infection, a danger could occur for the partner when kissing. Here some examples. The typical CF germ, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is not dangerous for healthy, not immuno-supressed people and in general there is no transmission to healthy people. In contrast, transmission of MRSA (resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is very probable when kissing. The "activity" of germs is also higher, if one has just an acute infection. Therefore it is in the responsibility of the CF patient to know, whith which germ he is just colonized and if there is actually an acute infection, when kissing is done.
It is logical, that germs are exchanged in both directions when kissing, so that bacteria can also be transmitted to the kissing CF patient. A healthy person without an acute infection is however no danger for transmitting germs to the CF partner.
It is a special situation, if both partners suffer from CF. In this case it is very likely, that a germ transmission in both direction takes place.
In summary it can be said, that kissing with CF is allowed, however the normal human sense and the knowledge of ones own findings, as well as a bit of informtaion about the partner should be taken into account when making decisions just like yours.
I hope to have helped you a bit with my answer
Best regards,
Yours Dr. Christina Smaczny

25.11.2016