Strep Throat

We’re finally understanding why some kids get strep throat over and over again

A specific immune deficiency may explain why some families seem so prone to this problem.

Sore Throats—What Really Works?

Sore throat is a common complaint in the emergency department and outpatient clinic setting. “Strep throat” caused by Streptococcus pyogenes accounts for just 5%-15% of all adult pharyngitis and tonsillitis. Most cases are caused by viruses, yet more than 75% of adult patients receive antibiotics.

Wondering If You Need A Strep Test? Crowdsourcing Might Help

Asking people about just two symptoms — fever and lack of cough — is the most important. Combining that information with an odds ratio based on the number of strep cases in the area in the past two weeks, predicted the likelihood that someone would actually test positive for strep about as well as scoring systems used by clinicians.

Rapid diagnosis of strep pharyngitis: Update for clinicians

In England, Scotland, Belgium, or the Netherlands, physicians will not use a diagnostic test, and the decision to prescribe antibiotic will depend mainly on the patient’s illness severity.

Where a Sore Throat Becomes a Death Sentence

Worldwide, 33.4 million people had rheumatic heart disease in 2015, and at least 319,400 died from it, according to estimates published last year — a public health disaster caused by a preventable disease that has been largely wiped out in the United States and Western Europe.

Antibiotics for Strep Do More Harm Than Good

The administration of antibiotics for strep throat, endorsed universally by practice guidelines and professional societies, is based exclusively on data from the world’s most concentrated epidemic of rheumatic fever. Using this to guide modern therapy is like administering antibiotics to prevent bubonic plague.

How to Tell When Your Sore Throat Is Strep

But strep throat can almost always be distinguished from a viral sore throat on clinical grounds alone. The patient is usually younger than 50, and the sore throat comes on like gangbusters within hours or overnight, making swallowing so difficult that drooling can occur.

My Son Almost Lost His Mind From Strep Throat

When Melanie's son John started acting strangely, none of the doctors knew what was wrong, until his school nurse spoke up. Internet research revealed that PANDAS — pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus — is a condition brought on by exposure to the bacteria that causes strep throat, though it may also be caused by a virus or a parasite.

Strep Throat in Children

If your child gets strep throat, buy a new toothbrush and have her start using it two days after starting the antibiotics. If the same toothbrush is used, bacteria are still present on the bristles and can re-infect your child after the round of antibiotics is completed.

Strep Throat: Symptoms and Treatment

Symptoms of strep throat typically appear several days after exposure to the bacteria. The most common symptom is a sore throat. Individuals may also have trouble swallowing, and the tonsils and lymph nodes may feel swollen. Some individuals may experience fever, stomach ache or vomiting, fatigue or headache.

What is the performance of rapid tests for the diagnosis of strep throat in children?

Based on these results, we would expect that amongst 100 children with strep throat, 86 would be correctly detected with the rapid test while 14 would be missed and not receive antibiotic treatment. Of 100 children with non-streptococcal sore throat, 95 would be correctly classified as such with the rapid test while 5 would be misdiagnosed as having strep throat and receive unnecessary antibiotics.

Strep throat is figuring out how to beat our go-to antibiotics

The microbe is slowly but surely starting to fight back.

Strep Symptoms: When to Use Antibiotics

Symptoms of a strep throat and a sore throat caused by a virus can overlap (children may experience stuffy noses, coughs and sneezing with a strep infection as well as with a cold), further complicating a doctor’s decision on whether to treat the illness or to let nature take its course.

5 Steps to a Speedy Recovery From Strep

Strep throat doesn't just run in our house; it gallops. It enters with force, knocks us to our knees and just when we think we've kicked it, it appears again for an encore. They say that fall and winter are the peak seasons for strep, but in our house, strep knows no season. It is timeless, enduring and a royal pain in the... throat.

CDC

Strep throat is more common in children than adults. It is most common in children 5 through 15 years old. It is rare in children younger than 3 years old. Adults who are at increased risk for strep throat include: Parents of school-aged children, Adults who are often in contact with children.

Family Doctor

Research has shown that it is difficult to confidently tell strep throat from more common viral infections. The presence of a runny nose may be a pointer to a viral infection.A higher fever and predominantly sore throat might make strep infection more likely. Throat swabs can help in diagnosis, although does not 100% confirm that the sore throat is being caused by the strep infection,as a proportion of healthy people(10 to 15 percent) may carry strep in their throats. An antibody tests on the blood ,showing a rise over 2 weeks can confirm strep infection,but this is not practical in the management of most strep sore throats.

MedicineNet

While many people use the terms sore throat, tonsillitis, and strep throat interchangeably, there are significant clinical differences among these conditions.