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Surviving "Strep"
More Than Just a Sore Throat
By Teri Brown
It starts out like any other cold or flu virus: sore throat, chills, an elevated fever and perhaps headaches or nausea. But if the lymph nodes swell up and become sore as well, you might want to have your child open her mouth and take a look. Chances are, if you see bright red, swollen tonsils flecked with white, your child doesn't have a mere cold – they have strep throat.
Brette Sember, mother of two from Basom, N.Y., knows the symptoms of strep throat all too well, having been through several bouts of the infection known to doctors as streptococcus. When her family comes down with strep, Sember is the hardest hit. "Whenever one of the kids gets it, I always get it, and it is harder for me to get rid of it than it is for them," she says. "Last time I took five different antibiotics before it finally went away."
"It's very contagious," says Dr. Russell A. Faust, chair of otolaryngology at the Children's Hospital and Research Center of Michigan. "Strep throat is spread from person to person. The bacterium is spread by coughs, sneezes, hands and kisses through direct contact with mucus secretions from the nose or throat of infected persons or through the air."
People with strep throat can spread it to others until 24 hours after beginning antibiotic treatment or for up to three weeks if not treated with antibiotics. Dr. Faust recommends washing your hands regularly when caring for a child with strep and to throw those used towels and pillowcases quickly into the wash.
