Strep throat symptoms

Information on Strep Throat

Strep throat make is a bacterial infection that affects the throat and makes the throat feel scratchy and sore. The symptoms are usually more severe than the symptoms of viral throat infections.

The strep throat needs to be diagnosed properly and it also has to be treated on time, because it can lead to much more serious medical conditions such as rheumatic fever or kidney inflammation.

Rheumatic fever is characterized by rash, inflamed joints and in some cases even heart damage. Strep throat may affect persons of all ages but it usually affects infants the most.

Symptoms of Strep Throat

Strep throat can usually be recognized by some, if not all of the symptoms like throat pain, fatigue, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, swollen tonsils, stomachache, little red spots on the area at the back of the roof of the mouth, rash, swollen lymph glands in the neck, headache and fever.

Some people may experience most of the aforementioned symptoms but still not have strep throat, because the symptoms may be an indication of some other viral infection or some other type of medical condition.

Some people may have the streptococci in the throat without having the actual strep throat. They just carry the bacteria and pass the infection on to other persons without getting sick themselves.

There are also certain more severe cases of strep throat which require immediate medical attention. They can be recognized by certain types of symptoms such as a sore throat without the symptoms of a common cold, dark colored urine which indicates kidney inflammation, sore throat with swollen lymph glands, symptoms of rheumatic fever, lack of improvement in spite of the antibiotic treatment, high fever, difficulty breathing or swallowing and rash. Risk factors commonly associated with strep throat are young age of up to 15 years old and a specific time of the year.

The condition tends to affect people the most at time of late fall and early spring. The infection spreads very easily among people.

Other Information

A person needs to be well prepared for the appointment with a doctor. One must know all the symptoms and the doctor will also require a detailed medical history of the patient.

The doctor usually asks a large number of questions in order to diagnose the medical condition as precise as possible. Some measures of precaution may be taken in order to stop the infection from spreading further.