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Does your child have a sore throat? It might be strep throat – a bacterial infection that can cause not only a sore throat, but also difficulty in swallowing and swollen lymph nodes. According to the National Institutes of Health, strep throat is most common in children ages five to fifteen. But this does not mean that as a parent you are in the clear; adults are also prone to the disease. And with the number of cases per year climbing into the millions, strep throat is nothing to sneeze at! Whether strep throat is making its way through your child’s school, or your doctor has determined that your child has the condition, W2K is here to help. Get advice on how to spot this illness, and how to ease your child’s symptoms.
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You’ve experienced having a sick child – whether your daughter had chronic ear infections as a baby, or your son is prone to the flu every winter. But strep throat can come as an unpleasant surprise, as the sore throat that accompanies it is usually rather painful. Imagine that your child complains of a sore throat one evening – what would you do? If you’re like most parents, you might offer your child tea, a throat lozenge, or even an anesthetic spray. However, if the symptoms linger, and your child’s condition worsens, then you will probably begin to wonder if you need to bring him or her in to the doctor.
If your child has a severe sore throat, you might feel helpless at first – what can a parent do for a sick child? In the past, many parents have assumed that any sore throat must be caused by bacteria, which can be controlled by taking antibiotics.
Of course, when the sore throat seems to be the most severe symptom, it is easy to assume that the cause is strep throat. But a sore throat can be a sign of many diseases – from the common cold to the flu. The symptom is surprisingly routine as it is one of the top ten complaints of people who visit the emergency rooms of hospitals. And according to Aetna InteliHealth, about 85% of sore throats are caused by a virus. This means that antibiotics will have absolutely no effect on the patient’s illness, and actually leads to the now widespread problem of antibiotic resistance. Basically, the more antibiotics we use incorrectly or unnecessarily (for example, not taking all the medication prescribed, or taking antibiotics when the disease is a virus and not a bacterium), the more problems we will have in treating serious bacterial infections. This is why it is so important to seek out a correct diagnosis – never assume that your child has strep throat, and therefore needs antibiotics, until your doctor has performed the appropriate tests!
If your child has the ambiguous symptom of a sore throat, you might want to schedule an appointment with the family doctor. W2K has all the information on symptoms and how your doctor can treat the illness – read up on strep throat under “Symptoms” and “Treatments.”
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