Strep Throat, Antibiotics & Psoriasis - iVillage Your Total Health

Strep Throat, Antibiotics & Psoriasis - iVillage Your Total Health

Multiple factors can worsen psoriasis or cause the guttate form. Many drugs have been implicated, but antibiotics would be unlikely to initiate the illness. One intriguing cause of guttate psoriasis or psoriatic flares is infection with Streptococcal bacteria, including strep throat or a strep skin infection. Guttate psoriasis may happen because strep bacteria can make a type of toxin known as a "superantigen." Superantigens are capable of activating many different aspects of the body's disease-fighting immune system, with widespread effects. (This mechanism is responsible for the toxic-shock syndrome associated with tampon use.) In the case of psoriasis, the strep toxin may activate immune cells in the skin, resulting in the multiple psoriasis skin lesions.