How to Recognize Strep throat

Strep throat is a bacterial infection of the throat that can be transmitted, with an estimated 30 million cases each year. Children and people with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to strep than healthy people, but you can spread it at any age. The only way to know for sure if you have strep throat is to see your doctor and get a medical test. However, there are specific symptoms of the disease that you can recognize before you see your doctor.

Table of Contents

Oral and Throat Symptom Assessment

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Determine the severity of sore throat. ^{[1] X Research Source} A severe sore throat is the first sign of strep throat. You could still have it if your throat is only mildly sore, but if it’s mild and easily cured or soothed, it’s nearly impossible to cause it.

Provided that this sore throat must appear independently, it is not painful to speak or swallow.
Pain that can be alleviated by taking medicine or using cold food or drink can still be linked to strep, but it is very difficult to get rid of the pain completely without using prescription medication.

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Try swallowing saliva. If your throat is only moderately sore but becomes very painful when you swallow, you probably have a strep infection. A sore throat that makes it difficult to swallow is particularly common in people with strep throat.

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Smell the breath. Streptococcal infections often cause a noticeable bad breath, although not every patient gets it. This is due to the growth of bacteria in the mouth.

Breath has a strong but difficult to describe odor, some say it smells like metal or a hospital, others like rotten meat. But no matter what the smell, “streptococcal breath” will smell and smell worse than normal breath.
Because “bad breath” depends on the subjective assessment of each person, this is not really a diagnosis, just a commonly associated sign. ^{[2] X Domino Research Source , F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}

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Feel the glands in the neck. Lymph nodes are where pathogens are captured and destroyed. Lymph nodes are often swollen and painful to the touch if you have strep throat.

Although lymph nodes are located in many different places on the body, the ones closest to the infection will swell first. So with strep throat, lymph nodes located in the throat or in the surrounding area will swell. ^{[3] X Research Sources}
Use your fingertips to gently touch the area directly in front of the ear, then move your finger in a circular motion behind the ear. ^{[4] X Research Sources}
You also need to check the area of the throat just below the chin. With this disease, the most common place for lymph nodes to swell is under the jawbone, somewhere between the chin and the ear. Move your fingertips back and up to the ear, then down along the side of the neck below the ear.
Finish the test on the collarbone and repeat the same on the other side.
If you feel a significant bulge or swelling in the area just checked, it could be a swollen lymph node caused by streptococcus. ^{[5] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}

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Check tongue. People with strep throat often have many tiny red particles covered along the tongue, especially in the area in the throat. ^{[6] X Trusted Source Centers for Disease Contrp and Prevention Go to Source} Many people describe this tiny, painful seed coat as resembling the outer skin of a strawberry.

They are bright red or crimson in color, and appear to be swollen overall.

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Check the back of the throat. Patients with strep throat develop red hemorrhagic spots on the soft and hard palates (on the nasopharynx, located near the back).

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Check your tonsils if you haven’t had your tonsils removed. This type of pharyngitis causes the tonsils to swell, to be bright red or darker than usual, and to be noticeably larger. You will also notice that the tonsils have a white coating, this coating can be directly on the tonsils or simply deep in the throat, it can also be yellow instead of white. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

More than just appearing as a white coating, you can see long streaks of white pus covering the tonsils. ^{[8] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).} This is a symptom of strep throat.

Review of Other Common Symptoms

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Notice how you’ve been around someone with strep throat. This is an infection that can be spread through direct contact with the bacteria that cause the disease. It is unlikely that you will contract the disease without having been in direct contact with someone carrying the bacteria before.

It is very difficult to know which person is carrying streptococci. Unless you’ve been completely isolated before then, it’s only likely that you’ve been in contact with someone carrying the disease.
Many people can carry the disease and spread it to others even if they themselves have no symptoms.

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Consider the rate of disease progression. A sore throat caused by strep often develops very quickly with no warning signs. If a sore throat develops over several days, it is most likely due to another cause.

But this sign alone is not enough to rule out streptococci.

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Check body temperature. Strep throat is often accompanied by a high fever (38.3 degrees Celsius) or higher. A lower fever can still be caused by strep, but it’s more likely a symptom of a viral infection.

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Pay attention to headache symptoms. Headache is another common symptom of strep throat. The severity ranges from mild to very painful.

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Observe the digestive system. If you lose your appetite or feel nauseous, that could be another symptom of strep throat. At worst, the disease can cause vomiting and abdominal pain.

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Notice fatigue. Like any other infection, strep throat makes you increasingly tired. That condition makes you not want to wake up in the morning, difficult to have enough energy for daily activities.

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Look for signs of hives. Severe streptococcal infections can lead to scarlet fever , commonly known as scarlet fever . ^{[9] X Research Source} Symptoms of erythema look and feel very much like sandpaper.

Scarlet fever usually occurs 12 to 48 hours after the first symptoms of strep throat appear.
The rash begins around the neck before spreading to the chest and even down to the abdomen and groin area. In rare cases the rash may appear on the back, arms, legs or face.
When you take antibiotics, scarlet fever goes away quickly. So if your rash has this feature, you should see your doctor as soon as possible, regardless of whether other symptoms of strep infection are present.

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Watch for symptoms that don’t appear. Although colds and strep throat have many things in common, there are cold-like symptoms that people with strep infections do not have. When those symptoms don’t appear, you have one more sign to confirm you have a strep throat instead of a cold.

Pharyngitis does not usually cause nasal symptoms. This means you won’t have a cough, runny nose, stuffy nose, or red and itchy eyes. ^{[10] X Research Source}
In addition, pharyngitis causes abdominal pain but does not cause diarrhea.

Review of Recent History and Risk Factors

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Review medical history. Some people seem to be more susceptible to strep infections than others. If you’ve had a strep infection in the past, there’s a good chance the new infection is also caused by strep.

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Assess whether your age is the cause of your susceptibility to strep infection. While up to 20%-30% of sore throats in children are caused by strep, in adults only 5%-15% of sore throats are caused by this bacteria. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Older patients and those with another illness (such as the flu) are more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

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Determine if life circumstances increase your risk of strep infection. The chance of strep throat is higher when someone in the household has had it in the past two weeks. ^{[12] X Trusted Source American Academy of Family Physicians Going to the source} Living or living in public places such as schools, kindergartens, dormitories, military barracks is a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. widely distributed.

Although children are at higher risk of infection, infants younger than 2 years of age are less likely to contract the disease. However, they do not have the usual symptoms seen in children and adults. Newborns may have fever, runny nose, cough, and loss of appetite. Talk to your doctor about the possibility that your baby has strep throat when he or she has a fever or other symptoms and has previously been in close contact with you or someone who has strep.

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Evaluate other health risk factors that make you more likely to get strep. People with a weakened immune system, which is a poor ability to fight off infections, are at a higher risk of contracting this bacteria. Other illnesses or infections also increase the risk of strep throat.

Your immune system may be weakened simply because you are tired. Exercising or exercising too much (such as running a long distance race) also causes the body to lose a lot of strength. At that time, your body only focuses on the recovery process, so the ability to fight infection will decrease. Simply put, the body is mainly focused on recovering physical strength, so it cannot protect itself effectively.
Smoking also damages the protective lining of the mouth and makes it easier for bacteria to colonize.
Oral sex facilitates more direct contact of the oral cavity with bacteria.
Diabetes reduces the ability to fight infections.

Go to Medical Checkup

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Know when to see a doctor. While you don’t necessarily need to see a doctor every time you have a sore throat, you should make an appointment with your doctor right away if you develop symptoms typical of strep throat. If your sore throat is accompanied by swollen lymph nodes, a rash, trouble swallowing or breathing, a high fever, or a fever that persists for more than 48 hours, you should see your doctor. ^{[13] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}

You should also consult a doctor if sore throat persists for more than 48 hours.

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Tell your doctor about your concerns. Tell them all about your symptoms and whether you suspect strep. Usually the doctor will look for the most typical signs of this disease.

They take your temperature.
The doctor then shines a light into the throat, they definitely need to check for swollen tonsils, tiny red spots on the tongue, or look for white or yellow streaks in the depths of the throat.

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The doctor reviews a clinical diagnostic procedure. This procedure is essentially a way for doctors to assess symptoms in an organized manner. For adults, they use the Clinical Prediction Principle, an empirically based principle to determine your likelihood of having a group A strep infection. It is simply a list of criteria to determine whether treatment is necessary for strep throat, and how. ^{[14] X Research Source McIsaac WJ, Kellner JD, Aufricht P, et al. Empirical validation of guidelines for the management of pharyngitis in children and adults.JAMA. 2004;291:1587–1595.}

Your doctor gives you a score (positive or negative) for signs and symptoms as follows: +1 point for a milky white nodule on the tonsils (fluid from the tonsils), +1 point for swollen, painful lymph nodes (swollen lymph nodes on the side of the tonsils) neck), +1 points for recent fever, +1 points for patients under 15 years of age, +0 points for ages 15-45, -1 points for patients older than 45 years, and -1 points if have a cough.
If you have 3 to 4 points, you get a positive predictive value (PPV) of approximately 80% that you have group A streptococcus. Basically, you are strep positive. If this infection is to be treated with antibiotics, your doctor will prescribe the correct dose of medication you need to take. ^{[15] X Research Sources McIsaac WJ, Kellner JD, Aufricht P, et al. Empirical validation of guidelines for the management of pharyngitis in children and adults.JAMA. 2004;291:1587–1595.}

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Ask your doctor for a rapid strep test. ^{[16] X Research Sources} Clinical Prediction Principles criteria have been found to be ineffective in predicting infections requiring antibiotic treatment in children. The rapid strep antigen test can be done in the clinic and takes only a few minutes. ^{[17] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}

The doctor uses a cotton swab (similar to a Niva swab) to take a sample of the liquid inside the throat to test for bacteria. You get results in 5 to 10 minutes when the fluid is tested.

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Ask your doctor for a throat culture. If the rapid strep test is negative but you still have other symptoms of the disease, then your doctor may do another, longer test, called a throat culture. A throat culture involves allowing bacteria to grow outside the throat environment, in a dish. As the bacterial population grows, it’s easier to test for group A strep. It’s likely that your doctor will use a combination of the Clinical Prediction Principles with a rapid strep test or a throat culture. , depending on their clinical judgment. ^{[18] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}

Although a rapid strep test is normally sufficient to determine if a streptococcal infection is present, there have been a number of cases where false negative results have been reported. In comparison, throat cultures give more accurate results.
A throat culture is not needed if the strep test is positive, because it directly checks for bacterial antigens and is positive only if a certain threshold of bacteria exists. The results showed that it was necessary to treat immediately with antibiotics. ^{[19] X Research Source Domino, F. (nd). The 5-minute clinical consult standard 2015 (23rd ed.).}
The doctor uses a cotton swab to take a sample of the fluid from the inside of the throat, and then sends the swab to the laboratory. Here, people inoculate the sample into a plate containing white agar, the bacteria are incubated for 18-48 hours depending on the method of each laboratory. If you are sick, group A beta streptococcus will multiply in the dish. ^{[20] X Research Sources}

Advice

Stay home for at least 24 hours after starting treatment for a strep infection.
Do not share cups, eating utensils or contact with secretions of an infected person. Keep personal items separate if you have an infection.

Warning

Seek medical attention right away if you cannot swallow liquids whole, show signs of dehydration, cannot swallow saliva, have severe neck pain, or stiff neck.
Remember that mononucleosis has similar symptoms to a streptococcal infection, or both conditions occur at the same time. If your test results are negative for strep, but your symptoms persist and you are very tired, you should ask your doctor to test for mono.
Strep throat must be treated with antibiotics, otherwise it will develop into rheumatic fever, which is an extremely dangerous disease because it affects the heart and joints. This process takes place 9-10 days after the first symptoms of strep throat appear, so you must act quickly.
If, while being treated for a strep infection, you develop a cola-colored urine or a decrease in urine output, you should contact your doctor immediately. That could be a sign of nephritis, which is a complication of strep throat. ^{[25] X Research Sources}

Steps