Symptoms of strep?

Question

If you read a recent question I asked, called "laryngitis...help!" you will learn that my daughter had laryngitis a few days ago. For a few days now, she has had a cough, and a stuffy nose. The cough is really bad, and sounds phlegmy. My husband took her to the doctor yesterday, and had a throat culture done. I have to call in about an hour. She doesn't have a fever, but do you think it's strep?

I should also add that she is twelve, and was fooling around with my seven year old a couple of days ago, and my seven year old just got over strep.

Answer 1

My son had strep a few weeks ago, his symptoms were as follows:

Fever, ranging anywhere from 99 to 103.

Sore throat, with phlemy cough.

Lack of appetite due to sore throat

Swelling and itchiness of both hands and feet

His original throat culture showed negative for strep, but the additional one that takes 48 hours to show, was positive. He was put on straight up penicillin to kill the strep.

I was told by the doctor that the hand and feet swelling and itching was a normal symptom of strep in children, I had never known that before. I was told to expect the hands and feet that swelled to peel skin and to just use vaseline to sooth them as the peeling could get bad. And it did, my poor son had skin peeling so badly that it would bleed. But it eventually subsided and the antibiotics did there job.

Without a fever at all, I'd say it's probably not strep, but nothing will tell that for sure but the test.

Answer 2

Common symptoms of strep throat in children and adults include:

Severe and sudden sore throat without coughing, sneezing, or other cold like symptoms.
Pain or difficulty with swallowing.
Fever over 101 °F(38.3 °C); lower fevers may indicate a viral infection and not strep.
Swollen lymph nodes in the neck.
White or yellow spots or coating on the throat and tonsils.
Bright red throat or dark red spots on the roof of the mouth at the back near the throat.
Swollen tonsils, although this symptom may also be caused by a viral infection.
Good luck to you, take care, if not treated can cause problems.

Answer 3

Every time I have had strep throat I did not cough and there was not much phlem. I could open my mouth to look in the mirror and I could see swollen tonsils with spots and a couple blisters.
Also anytime I had a strep test the results were ready in about 15 minutes. But you never know symptoms can vary with different strains.

Answer 4

My baby has strep. He has had a cough and runny nose, and when I got home from work Friday, he had a high fever. I took him to the doc, and they said the strep test was positive. Hope that helps at all.

Answer 5

One of the biggest symptoms of strep throat is a fever. Also pus pockets at the back of the throat and generally flu-like symptoms. Hope she gets better soon!

Answer 6

Group B streptococcus (group B strep) is a type of bacteria that causes illness in newborn babies, pregnant women, the elderly, and adults with other illnesses, such as diabetes or liver disease. Group B strep is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns.

Group B strep is the most common cause of sepsis (blood infection) and meningitis (infection of the fluid and lining around the brain) in newborns. Group B strep is a frequent cause of newborn pneumonia and is more common than other, more well-known, newborn problems such as rubella, congenital syphilis, and spina bifida. In the year 2001, there were about 1,700 babies in the U.S. less than one week old who got early-onset group B strep disease.

Is group B strep the same as strep throat?

No. Strep throat is caused by group A streptococcus bacteria. Group A and group B streptococcus are different kinds of bacteria. They both belong to the same family, but they are different species.

Group A streptococcal (strep) infections are caused by group A streptococcus, a bacterium responsible for a variety of health problems. These infections can range from a mild skin infection or sore throat to severe, life-threatening conditions such as toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh eating disease. Most people are familiar with strep throat, which along with minor skin infection, is the most common form of the disease. Health experts estimate that more than 10 million mild infections (throat and skin) like these occur every year.

In addition to step throat and superficial skin infections, group A strep bacteria can cause infections in tissues (group of cells joined together to perform the same function) at specific body sites, including lungs, bones, spinal cord, and abdomen.

STREP THROAT

Symptoms of strep throat

Your health care provider may call it acute streptococcal pharyngitis. If you have strep throat infection, you will have a red and painful sore throat and may have white patches on your tonsils. You also may have swollen lymph nodes in your neck, run a fever, and have a headache. Nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain can occur but are more common in children than in adults.

Answer 7

Please see the web pages for more details on Strep throat.