What are the symptoms of strep throat and how do I prevent/treat it?
House Calls Web posted Thursday, January 9, 2003 4:52 p.m. EST Have a thought? Go to the Forums or Chat. By Dennis Murray, M.D., FAAP Typical symptoms of strep throat, or Group A streptococcal infection, in a child above age three include: rather sudden onset of a sore throat and fever, without symptoms typical of a cold/upper respiratory infection (such as runny nose, cough, etc.), headache, mild stomach pain and nausea (usually from swallowing the infected mucus) and a sandpaper-type rash. Some vomiting may occur, but usually not more than one or two times. Hoarseness, redness of the eyes and diarrhea are distinctly unusual and may be signs that your child has a viral or other illness. Upon examining the throat, it is usually beefy red, and the tonsils are red, swollen and usually covered with a whitish/yellow to green material (called “exudate”). There are often one or two enlarged, tender lymph nodes on either side of the neck below the jaw. Strep throat can also occur in children
