By Kiera Kowalski and Levi Garber<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ collapsed=”off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Jessica Mayenburg was celebrating her eighteenth birthday at her parents\u2019 home in Carp, Ont. the first time her throat closed up from the tonsillitis she had been fighting for four months.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mayenburg went to the bathroom, opened her mouth and stared at the bulging masses of tissue blocking her airway. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI could still kind of breathe but it almost felt like someone was sitting on my chest,\u201d she said. \u201cMy lungs were fine but I couldn\u2019t pull any air in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mayenburg, now 21, told her mother she needed to go to the emergency room, and fast.<\/span><\/p>\n Even with antibiotics, her body wasn\u2019t able to fight off the infection, and now it wasn\u2019t even able to cope with breathing. <\/span><\/p>\n Mayenburg\u2019s story is unfortunately all too common.<\/span><\/p>\n Recurring tonsillitis caused by Streptococcus bacteria, commonly referred to as strep throat, is a condition that affects nearly 600 million children worldwide every year. Yet doctors and medical researchers are only now beginning to understand the complexities of the illness. Scientists at the Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, California recently pinpointed a molecule produced by the strep bacteria that wreaks havoc on tonsil tissue in children who are susceptible to frequent infections. That discovery could pave the way for the development of a strep throat vaccine, according to a study published in February in the journal Science Translational Medicine<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n If realized, a strep vaccine could prevent the recurring throat infections that plague susceptible children. Children like Mayenburg.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor the first 17 years of my life, I had strep or tonsillitis every six months or so,\u201d said Mayenburg.<\/span><\/p>\n Tonsillitis is the inflammation of the two oval-shaped pads of lymph tissue in the back of the throat that act as filters for the body\u2019s immune system. The condition causes sore throat, fever and trouble breathing. It can be caused by a variety of infections . Streptococcus bacteria cause a form of tonsillitis called strep throat. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n \u201cI always had other kids at school be like \u2018Oh, you have such a bad immune system, you\u2019re so sick all of the time,'” said Mayenburg.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople would make fun of me for being sick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Some children are more susceptible to contracting strep throat than others because, as researchers at the La Jolla Institute found, they are genetically predisposed to have smaller germinal centres, which are important for development of immune cells.<\/span><\/p>\n When a child is susceptible to strep throat, which comes from the bacteria known as Group A Streptococcus, their immune system struggles to produce antibodies to fight off the infection. For Mayenburg, this became a persistent battle.<\/span><\/p>\n In September of her first year of university, Mayenburg contracted a particularly bad case of strep throat that turned into tonsillitis. She went to the campus clinic, received antibiotics and her symptoms faded within days. A week later, the symptoms came back.<\/span><\/p>\n So Mayenburg was given more antibiotics.<\/span><\/p>\n She continued this cycle of getting sick and taking medication until December of that year, when her body could no longer handle the damage caused by persistent rounds of antibiotics. They had killed off so much bacteria in her gut and intestines that Mayenburg was experiencing internal bleeding.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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