Parents have been asking me some painful questions about strep throats and why we need to treat them with antibiotics.

Well, I don’t want this condition to be sorely missed by anyone, so I shall share some important information.

Strep throat, though unusual to see in children less than two years of age, is one of the most common childhood illnesses.

When recognized and treated early, strep throat rarely causes a problem.

However, when missed, strep throat can cause a type of life-threatening shock, result in kidney disease, or progress to something several weeks after the sore throat that we call rheumatic fever. This is a serious form of heart disease that can also affect the joints, skin, and even neurologic system. Preventing these complications is why we treat all cases of strep throat with antibiotics.

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When does a sore throat need medical attention?

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A sore throat caused by a virus usually occurs in association with other viral symptoms like a runny nose, cough, hoarseness, red or runny eyes and/or diarrhea.

Strep throat, on the other hand, usually may just involve the throat, which will look red with white patches in the back, swollen glands on the sides of the neck and enlarged tonsils also covered with white patches. There may also be fever, headache, rash and/or belly pain.

If you have any suspicion that your child’s sore throat might be due to the strep bacteria, please have their throat tested for strep. If the test is positive, begin treatment with an antibiotic, usually a type of penicillin.

Your child with strep is contagious until after 24 hours of antibiotic treatment and no fever for at least 12 hours. Please keep this in mind when it comes to deciding whether to take your child to their health care professional or send them back to school.

A full course of antibiotics is still required for ten days even if your child is no longer contagious with strep to ensure its eradication.

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Can strep throat

be prevented?

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There is no vaccine for strep throat. And even if you have it once, you can get it again.

You can reduce the chances of your child being infected by having children not share their food, drinks or towels with other family or friends, and to sneeze or cough into their elbow and not their hands.

Handwashing, of course, is a great way to minimize the spread of this bacteria.

Hopefully, tips like these will be easy ones to swallow when it comes to knowing the importance of recognizing and then treating strep throat.

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Lewis First, MD, is Chief of Pediatrics at The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. You can also Catch “First with Kids” weekly on WOKO 98.9FM and NBC5.