Is Oral Thrush Contagious?

Is oral thrush contagious is a question everyone asks if they learn that their lover/spouse has symptoms of this yeast infection in the mouth.

The short answer is "no" - you won't directly catch it from kissing someone with a mouth yeast infection.

BUT - you knew there had to be a but, right! - you just might still get it.

We all have yeast cells in our mouth (and most other places on our body) but normaly our body handles this fine. There are only a small number and the other good bacteria present "deal to them". We don't get oral thrush.

As one expert said: "Since Candida yeasts (especially C. albicans) are normal inhabitants of the skin and oral mucosa, it must always be noted that positive culture does not always indicate the presence of candidal infection." Katoh T. 2009

But when you kiss someone who does have it then there is the potential to suddenly increase the number of Candida albicans (yeast) you now have to a level that your body can no longer handle and you develop those characteristic white patches in the mouth.

If you kiss someone with oral thrush, they don't give it to you. But if the levels of existing yeast in your own mouth was high, the increase in fungi just might make the difference between you developing a yeast infection in the mouth or not.

What to do about it?

Check out oral thrush treatment which gives a number or probiotic choices.

One study showed that Lactobacillus acidophilus cleared up oral yeast (in mice) in about 4 days¹. The L acidophilus was in yogurt but did not have to come in contact with the yeast cells so that conceivably acidophilus pills could work as well. It must be live acidophilus - heat killed bacteria did not work at all.

So "is oral thrush contagious?" - the answer is "no" but you just might get it anyway. I guess that actually sounds more like a resounding "maybe"!

REFERENCES

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