Sore throat: when it is strep and when it is not
Every week we see people who have suffered through a week of throat pain because they were not sure it was worth coming in. Here is the honest version.
A sore throat is one of the most common reasons people walk into our clinic, and roughly seven out of ten of them turn out to be viral. Viral sore throats come with a runny nose, a cough, or a hoarse voice, and they clear up in three to five days without antibiotics.
What strep actually looks like
Strep throat tends to arrive suddenly and without a cough. The pain is sharp when you swallow, the glands under your jaw swell and hurt to touch, and you often have a fever. Children sometimes get a stomach ache or a rash instead of the classic symptoms.
The only way to be certain is a swab. Our rapid strep test takes about fifteen minutes, and if it is negative but we are still suspicious, we send a culture that confirms within two days.
Why it matters
Untreated strep can occasionally lead to complications like rheumatic fever, which is rare but serious. Antibiotics also shorten how long you are contagious, which matters if you have small children or work in a school.
What helps in the meantime
Warm salt water gargles, cold drinks, throat lozenges and ibuprofen genuinely help. Skip the leftover antibiotics in your cabinet — they will not touch a virus and they make future infections harder to treat.
Come see us if
Your sore throat comes with a fever over 101°F, white patches on your tonsils, swollen neck glands, or you are struggling to swallow liquids.