FIND A PHYSICIAN        

Symptoms of Strep Throat

Posted: April 1, 2009

Strep throat is the most common throat infection caused by bacteria.

It is found most often in children between the ages of 5 and 15, although it can occur in younger children and adults. Children younger than 3 years old can get strep infections, but these usually don’t affect the throat.

If you have a strep throat infection, you will have a red and painful sore throat and may have white patches on your tonsils. You also may have swollen lymph nodes in your neck, run a fever and have a headache. Nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain can occur but are more common in children than in adults.

You can get sick within three days after being exposed to the germ. Once infected, you can pass the infection to others for up to two to three weeks even if you don’t have symptoms. After 24 hours of taking antibiotics, you will no longer spread the bacteria to others.

Your healthcare provider will take a throat swab to find out if you have strep throat infection. This will be used for a culture (a type of laboratory test) or a rapid strep test, which only takes 10 to 20 minutes. If the result of the rapid test is negative, you may get a follow-up culture, which takes 24 to 48 hours, to confirm the results. If the culture test is also negative, your healthcare provider may suspect you do not have strep, but rather another type of infection.

If you have strep throat, your healthcare provider will prescribe an antibiotic. This will help lessen symptoms. After 24 hours of taking the medicine, you will no longer be able to spread the infection to others. Treatment will also reduce the chance of complications.


Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

We Have Answers
Do you have medical questions or need help finding a doctor? The experts at Columbia St.Mary’s can help. Click here.