Dear Lisa,

Strep viridans is the most common member of the normal flora of the human
respiratory tract.  They don't usually cause disease unless they get
where they are not supposed to be.  Most commonly it can cause
endocarditis by colonizing on previously damaged or otherwise abnormal
heart valves and has also been seen, but not very often, in septicemia,
UTI, meningitis.  The reason a sensitivity may not have been done is that
this strep (also often known as alpha strep) is usually sensitive to the
commonly used antibiotics such as ampicillin and keflex.  Of course, if
she has not been responding to antibiotic therapy, then a sensitivity is
quite in order.  Not a very common agent of mastitis, I would think, and
the baby will always be harboring it in the respiratory tract.  This type
of strep is also quite widepread throughout nature.

Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant Services
Rochester, New York
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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