One of the most annoying and frustrating bacterial infections is strep throat, mainly because of how much it can hurt when someone has it. Although it has been compared to sore throats, both in symptoms and pain, the two are similar, but aren’t the same condition. Strep throats are usually more painful and usually have more symptoms than sore throats do.
How Strep Throat is Caused
Strep Throat is caused by strep bacteria, with it can cause many variants of strep, some more dangerous than others. Dealing with Strep can be painful and difficult, as symptoms don’t generally appear until 3 days after getting it, so the exact cause of your condition may seem cloudy or unclear at first.
Common Symptoms
Typical symptoms/ signs of Strep are intense, sudden throat pains, painful swallowing, and very high- range of fever, generally topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, swollen tonsils, and white/yellow spots on back of throat. The throat itself will also appear a bright, wicked red. Sore throats, although they share some of these symptoms, are bacterial infections, not viral, so sneezing/coughing would eliminate the option of it being a sore throat case.
Other less common symptoms of Strep is severe rashes and intense belly aches. One of the best methods in finding out if you have Strep, is visiting a doctor and ordering a throat culture test that finds all cases of Strep. Even though this process generally requires one or two days for it to work, it is one of the most accurate diagnosis methods. Strep is a little difficult to treat, as it is a virus, not a bacteria, so medicine is not a primarily effective treatment option.
Antibiotics are available to treat Strep cases, more geared towards stopping the spread of the infection, than actually treating it; however some may feel better after taking them. The best treatment option is giving it time, as it is with most viruses.
Contagious Period
Viruses are usually contagious, and Strep is no exception. Strep is very contagious to people, so heed caution from being intimate with family whilst experiencing Strep. Antibiotics can help stop the spread of the infection, generally those who take antibiotics are not contagious following 24 hours has passed. Those who don’t take antibiotics will still be contagious, even after a couple of weeks have passed.
