How is a strep throat diagnosed?
Caregivers will take note of your child’s signs and symptoms. They may also want to know if your child had a possible exposure to someone with strep throat. A sample may be collected by rubbing a cotton swab on the back of your child’s throat. A rapid strep test may be done with results available in just a few minutes. Your child’s caregiver may also do a throat culture where the samples are taken to the lab. It takes more than 24 hours to learn the results of a strep culture done in the lab. If your child has strep throat, other family members may need to have a throat culture too. How is strep throat treated? Antibiotic medicine is needed to treat strep throat. Your child should stay at home until he has taken the antibiotics for 24 hours. This is to prevent spreading strep throat to other people. It is very important to finish all of the antibiotics, even if your child is feeling better. With proper early treatment, such as medicine, further problems may be prevented and your child
