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Strep Throat: Antibiotics
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Strep is caused by a strain of bacteria of a type called group A beta-hemolytic streptococci.[13][14][15][16] Symptoms include: sore throat, fever, headache, and in some cases, chills, nausea, and vomiting. Family physicians took a “strep” score for 621 patients, where one point was assigned for each of the following symptoms: temperature greater than 38 C, absence of cough, tender anterior cervical adenopathy, tonsillar swelling or exudate, age younger than 15, and subtracting a point for age older than 45. A score of one or less was negative with no throat culture or antibiotic, a score of two or three was considered indeterminate with a throat culture and antibiotic based on throat culture, and a score of four or greater was positive with throat culture and antibiotics. The occurrence of strep was 17% score of two, 35% score of three, and 51% score of four or more.[17] The patient usually experiences swelling of the tonsils and lymph nodes in the neck; swelling can ... be located in the soft palate in the top of the mouth. Authors identified, reviewed, and pooled data of studies of the diagnosing of group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis in patients with a sore throat. The absence of tender anterior cervical lymph nodes, tonsillar enlargement, and tonsillar or pharyngeal exudates was most useful in ruling out strep throat with a negative likelihood of 0.74.[18]
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Antibiotics, the conventional treatment of choice, are very effective in curing strep throat. They ... ease symptoms and are generally believed to reduce the risk of serious complications such as rheumatic fever. Ten days of oral penicillin is a typical course of therapy. People allergic to this drug usually take erythromycin instead. In some cases, a single injection of antibiotics may be preferred. It is important to complete the full course of antibiotic therapy (even if symptoms begin to subside earlier) in order to resolve the disease and prevent the development of complications.
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Throat culture is the best test for confirming the presence of the strep bacteria. This test takes at least 24 hours to detect strep so is a little less convenient. However, waiting 24 hours before initiating antibiotic treatment is not likely to put anyone at risk for complications related to a strep throat infection.
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A rapid strep test requires the physician to collect cells from the back of your throat on a cotton swab and test it right away. The entire process takes approximately 15 minutes. The problem with this test is that it is not always accurate. If the results are positive, the physician will start you on antibiotics immediately. If the results are negative and the symptoms and physical examination points towards strep throat, the physician will send for a throat culture, but will start you on medication immediately.
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Strep throat is a bacterial throat infection that can be easily treated with antibiotics. It is one of the causes of a sore, scratchy throat – the most frequent reason for people to visit their doctors. But sore throats may ... have other causes, of viral nature.
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If strep throat is suspected as the cause of tonsillitis in your child, your doctor will do a throat swab to confirm that there is infection with strep bacteria. A rapid antigen test is usually performed in the office. If this test is negative, there is still a small chance that your child has strep and an overnight culture will then be done to see if any strep bacteria grow. It is important to remember that you can not tell the difference between strep throat and other viral causes of sore throats. Just because there is pus on your child's tonsils, it does not mean that he needs an antibiotic. Antibiotics are only used to treat sore throats that are caused by strep, so if the tests are negative, your child most likely has a virus that will need to clear up on its own.
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