PSEUDOMONAS bacteris found in chest

[nickname7890]

Hi all

I am 7 months pregnant. I have had recurrent chesty cough throughout pregnancy, been ill twice with it (and at those times taken Amoxycillin which has calmed it down, but then its never entirely shifted). I gave a sputum sample, but (sorry -TMI alert!) I wasnt able to "produce" much anyway as its just not that kind of cough.

Anyway, they said yesterday they found the pseudomonas BACTERIA in the sample. The doctor didnt seem super fussed and said the lab hadnt made any suggestions for appropriate antibiotics given im pregnant. However, I am freaking myself out as the only info I can find is that it normally doesnt cause a chest infection unless youhave some other underlying condition comprimising your immune system.

With pregnancy - i can only find info on it causing UTIs but I havent had a urine infection all pregnancy, just thrush once.

HAs anyone else got experience with this? thank you for reading x

Do you go swimming in a public pool?, I think it can be present there as some sort of biofilm on surfaces, maybe in the water? Not an expert btw, vague recollection of reading this somewhere.

Doesn't being pregnant compromise your immune system?

Yes, pregnancy does lower your immune system. It’s why pregnant women are more susceptible to flu, swine flu, etc.

It normally responds well to antibiotics and apart from giving you this cough won’t have any other effects. I’ve known pregnant women have it before but yes, only via urine samples. Ten years ago it was pretty unheard of in pregnancy but I’ve seen more cases recently so seems to be becoming more common.

The bug can also grow in tap water pipes so might be worth asking the water board if they’ll test your water. Hospital where I work has it/had it for years in the tap water.

I had a pseudomonas ear infection years ago - GP couldn’t work out why it was wasted responding to the usual ABs so took a swab. Apparently not very common but once I had the right ABs it cleared up quickly and never had anything since

I dont know much about Pseudomonas during pregnancy but Amoxycillin wont clear pseudo up which is why it settles but doesnt shift. My experience is with people with underlying respiratory conditions which long term pseudo can be a real problem (im not saying thats you btw!!) But it can be a bit of a whatsit to shift in vulnerable people (such as patients with cystic fibrosis)

I would suggest maybe going back to the gp if your cough is still troubling you but im not sure if the meds i know about are suitable during pregancy but it might be worth asking.