1. Health

Take Note: Strep Throat

From Ingrid Koo, Ph.D., About.com GuideOctober 27, 2008

I’m grateful for the advances of modern medicine.

My preschooler was diagnosed with Strep Throat this week. He threw up as we were walking to his favorite restaurant. We promptly turned around and headed home, trying to figure out if we fed him something bad. Remembering a notification posted athis school that another kid had been diagnosed with this contagious disease, I checked for all the symptoms, and, sure enough, he had the fever and sore throat to go along with the vomiting.

The doctor’s office now has a very rapid Strep diagnosis test that can be completed in minutes. Within 20 minutes, our doc came out and told us that he did indeed have Strep Throat and prescribed a 10-day course of amoxicillin.

What used to take days (throat culture for the Streptococcus bacterium) now takes minutes. Complications that are associated with Strep infections (i.e. Rheumatic Fever) can now be eliminated with antibiotics. And within 24 hours of antibiotics, the infection is no longer contagious.

In just a few short days, my little guy was a happy camper once more!

Did I mention that I’m grateful for the advances of modern medicine?

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