Strep throat accounts for approximately 15-percent of all sore, chaffed throats that hit doctors’ offices and drop in clinics in North America. This widespread bacterial infection mostly afflicts school aged children, but adults aren’t exempt from the red, swollen, painful throat condition. Strep throat is caused by an overgrowth of group A streptococcus bacteria, which is where it takes its name.If you’re feeling under the weather, you may have strep throat if you’re experiencing these warning signs.
Sore Throat
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), strep throat is a prevalent type of sore throat that strikes children. However, it’s less common in adults. The painful, sore, red, and inflamed throat tissues that come with strep are due to an severe viral infection. Cause of strep is various, or it can be a combination of health (i.e., allergies, or viral, fungal and bacterial factors) and environmental irritants (i.e., pollution, cigarette smoke) things can cause that uncomfortable, scratchy, and raw feeling associated with step throat.
Swollen Glands
Feel for swollen lymph nodes in the sides of the neck if you think you may have strep throat. Inflamed tonsils also commonly cause pain swallowing. However, your doctor can’t determine strep throat without a medical test, or throat swab that will detect the presence of group A Streptococcus bacteria. This A strep bacteria often lives in our throats and noses already without causing illness. However, an over excess of bacteria will cause it to overload the system and cause strep throat.
Fever & Chills
A mild to high fever of 100-degree Fahrenheit, accompanied by chills and night sweating, which rapidly decrease essential body fluids is typical with strep throat as you fight the infection. Fever can increase fluid requirements, so be sure you are drinking enough fluids to replenish those lost and to prevent dehydration.If a high fever is present accompanied by multiple other strep symptoms, a strep test can determine your illness and dictate the need for prescription antibiotics.
Skin Rash
Sometimes, strep throat, particularly in small children or elderly patients with weak immune systems, can cause a skin rash. This rash results from an allergic reaction to the strep bacteria in your body as well as to fever. This rash of tiny red bumps can crop up on the torso, chest, back, and neck, and you may also find little red spots (referred to by doctors as petechiae) on the area at the back and on the the roof of the soft and hard palate in the mouth. Some strains of strep throat can also lead to a fever-like rash (similar to scarlet fever). The sandpaper like rash will crop up first on the chest and neck before it spreads to the torso and over the entire body.
Your doctor may have prescribed an antibiotic for strep throat. Take all of the antibiotic exactly as prescribed. This will help prevent the infection from coming back and will prevent complications of infection that could occur if you do not take the medicine as prescribed.There are many ways that you can make yourself feel better while you are waiting for the strep infection to go away.
