👅When to think strep🤒 As a parent, it can be confusing to decide whether or not your kid’s throat pain warrants a visit. These symptoms suggest strep: 🤮Belly pain or vomiting. 😵Throat pain and headache. 🤒Fever without significant cough or congestion. 😬Tender swollen lymph nodes in the neck. 🥵A scarlitiniform rash (think pale pink sandpaper). 👿Palatial petechia (purple spots on the roof of the mouth - if there very specific for strep but not always there if it is strep). See my stories for pictures. We do not want to test children without symptoms suggestive of strep. 15-25% may test positive but just be carriers of the bacteria - not sick or at risk of rheumatic fever. Testing on day 1 of throat pain can often be misleading, because day 2-3 cough and congestion can occur suggesting another source, but if you "caught" strep on the swab you can be stuck treating it. ❌ Mostly, the way the throat and tonsils look isn’t helpful at knowing whether or not it’s strep. Viruses especially mono/EBV can give you terrible looking throats. 💊Antibiotic treatment for strep reduces symptoms by about a day, reduces the complications, and reduces how contagious you are. But the real reason to treat it is to prevent rheumatic fever and the ❤️consequences in children over age 3. 🤯 Rheumatic fever is a dangerous complication of strep that can affect the brain and heart. Treating before day 5 can prevent it. Scarlet fever is just a little rash that happens often with strep and not a big deal. Everyone gets these mixed up. 👶🏻Because of this testing kids under 3 can be helpful sometimes as part of an evaluation to know what’s wrong or when the risk of strep throat is high, but isn’t AS important because for whatever reason they don’t typically get rheumatic fever. Best to ask your doctor. Having strep often, more than 7 times in a year or 5 times two years in a row can be an indication to get the tonsils out. But it’s important to know it’s real strep not just a carrier. Questions? Do your kids get strep often?