The oh-so-lovely dreaded STREP

[Calicat]

Hi everybody.

 

On Wednesday, my daughter woke up early and was sick with vomiting, fever (101 to 103 mostly, but briefly 104), body aches, headache, mild sore throat, tiredness. The vomiting went away midday, but the rest stayed for three full days. On the fourth day, her fever broke, but I took her to the doctor anyway, and he said, this is almost certainly strep and gave us antibiotics. I asked if we could have azithromycin and he said yes. My daughter has not been ticcing lately, and so far (fingers crossed), this illness hasn't started them up again.

 

I have a few questions:

 

1. What is the incubation period for strep?

-- We we at my sister's for the long weekend, and nobody there had symptoms of anything. We came back home and she went to school for one day, and was sick in less than 24 hours, so I am feeling she didn't pick it up at school. That leaves my sister's house. My nephew was there, and he had had strep two weeks ago and was treated for it, and my (other) sister couldn't remember which antibiotic was used. Am I right in thinking that his strep infection might not have been completely knocked out by the antibiotic, and then he unwittingly passed it on to my daughter? Or maybe one of his three brothers are carriers and gave it to her without showing symptoms themselves?

 

-- If so, how is this cycle broken? Do you get everyone in the family tested BEFORE AND AFTER treatment to be sure the job was done correctly?

 

2. My daughter's father and myself also were sick in the past couple days... most likely caught from her. We got over it in 24 hours. Is it still necessary to be tested for strep? I feel concerned that if her father got and held onto the streptococci (now symptomless) that he could reinfect her. I guess what I am asking is... Can you get strep, and your body fights it fairly successfully (ie. gets rid of any symptoms), but you still carry it if you didn't take any antibiotics?

 

3. For preventing possible strep-related problems, is it important to treat with antibiotics earlier rather than later? Does likelihood of problems increase each time there is an infection?

 

I feel like there was another question in my mind, but I'll figure it out and ask later. Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

Calicat

[myrose]

Wish I could help here but I can't...sorry

 

 

 

 

Hi everybody.

 

On Wednesday, my daughter woke up early and was sick with vomiting, fever (101 to 103 mostly, but briefly 104), body aches, headache, mild sore throat, tiredness. The vomiting went away midday, but the rest stayed for three full days. On the fourth day, her fever broke, but I took her to the doctor anyway, and he said, this is almost certainly strep and gave us antibiotics. I asked if we could have azithromycin and he said yes. My daughter has not been ticcing lately, and so far (fingers crossed), this illness hasn't started them up again.

 

I have a few questions:

 

1. What is the incubation period for strep?

-- We we at my sister's for the long weekend, and nobody there had symptoms of anything. We came back home and she went to school for one day, and was sick in less than 24 hours, so I am feeling she didn't pick it up at school. That leaves my sister's house. My nephew was there, and he had had strep two weeks ago and was treated for it, and my (other) sister couldn't remember which antibiotic was used. Am I right in thinking that his strep infection might not have been completely knocked out by the antibiotic, and then he unwittingly passed it on to my daughter? Or maybe one of his three brothers are carriers and gave it to her without showing symptoms themselves?

 

-- If so, how is this cycle broken? Do you get everyone in the family tested BEFORE AND AFTER treatment to be sure the job was done correctly?

 

2. My daughter's father and myself also were sick in the past couple days... most likely caught from her. We got over it in 24 hours. Is it still necessary to be tested for strep? I feel concerned that if her father got and held onto the streptococci (now symptomless) that he could reinfect her. I guess what I am asking is... Can you get strep, and your body fights it fairly successfully (ie. gets rid of any symptoms), but you still carry it if you didn't take any antibiotics?

 

3. For preventing possible strep-related problems, is it important to treat with antibiotics earlier rather than later? Does likelihood of problems increase each time there is an infection?

 

I feel like there was another question in my mind, but I'll figure it out and ask later. Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

Calicat

[kim]

Calicat

 

 

http://www.emedicine.com/med/TOPIC2184.HTM

 

The incubation period for strep throat is 2-4 days. Sudden onset of sore throat, malaise, fever, and headache occurs. Younger patients may also develop nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

 

I don't believe that we can ever really keep our kids free from exposure to strep.

 

I know others have had the whole family tested and found someone to be positive with no symptoms, so in a repeat PANDAS symptom situation, it would probably be a good idea. Did I read somewhere, it can even be found in the family dog?

 

If you really wanted to know who the carrier was, I guess you would have to have them tested before anti biotic use. My youngest son tested positive all of the time, with no obvious symptoms.

 

Hope that helps a little?

[colleenrn]

Your body can fight strep and you become symptom free without antibiotics, but you usually become a carrier which means you could infect others or reinfect your daughter.

[kim]

Colleenrn,

 

I am under the impression that anti biotic use, at least in some instances can promote carriage rates within a community.

 

I'm wondering if you can post a reference to the the likelyhood of having a carrier status, when anti biotics aren't used, even if it's just in an individual as opposed to a community? I would really like that info. if it's out there.

[CarolynN]

Gargling with grapefruit seed extract (3 drops diluted in about 5 or 6 ounces of water) does amazing things for strep. Also being on a really good probiotic.

 

The grapefruit seed extract is a natural anti-biotic. I can attest I have used it on myself with strep and also my children. It really works great. I would gargle perhaps two times a day with it. I wayyyyyyyy over did it one time, like once an hour, and ended up with a blocked saliva gland. So don't over do it.

 

You can read the testomonies on the Internet as to how gargling helps strep so much.

 

Carolyn

[Calicat]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the info! Colleenrn, do you have any more information for us on the carrier issue?

Thanks again,

Calicat

[bmom]

Carolyn, Do you gargle to prevent strep for us that are oonsidered PANDAS would our children do this daily or when they have strep only?

[colleenrn]

The info on strep carriers I got from the book written by an MD who sees a lot of PANDAS kids in his practice. It is called The Clinical Management of Streptococcal Pharyngitis by Michael Pichichero. I would be glad to post what info he gives, but it will be later in the day after I get my kids off to school. He also talks about how they are seeing an increase in kids being strep carriers after being on Penicillin to treat an active strep infection, which I found very interesting. I will post it as soon as I can.

Colleen

[colleenrn]

The following is from the book Clinical Management of Streptococcal Pharyngitis by Michael Pichichero, MD related to strep carriage.

Group A streptococcal (GAS) carriage is likely when a aptient has a positive GAS throat culture but shows neither symptoms nor a demonstrative rise in streptococcal titers. Patients experiencing a relapse with the same strain of GAS soon after primary infection often have milder and fewer symptoms of GAS infection, which may not be remembered, even though such patients have been shown to demonstrate an antibody rise, thus identifying them as susceptible to acute rheumatic fever (ARF). Treated or untreated, symptoms of acute infection with GAS resolve, but ongoing carriage of the organism may persist. Patients are contagious to others in the early stages of this carrier state. After a period of time(1 to 2 months), the carrier has diminished numbers of GAS organisms in the tonsillopharynx, and transmissibility to others diminishes. High rates of GAS carriage may account for increased penicillin failures in a semiclosed community. Asymptomatic GAS carriage may persist despite intensive antibiotic treatment. Eradication of the GAS carrier state is infrequently achievable with penicillin; clindamycin; penicillin plus rifampin or cefprozil is more effective. After treatment for 10 days, patients more often become carriers if treated with penicillin compared with cephalosporins or macrolides.

The following passage is talking about failure rates of penicillin and amoxicillin for strep:

The failure rate with penicillin and more recently amoxicillin has been rising over the years. A projected bacterial eradication failure rate in excess of 15% is considered by the Food and Drug Administration as unacceptable for a first-line therapy of GAS tonsillopharygitis, and penicillin has not met that criterion standard for well over a decade.

Hope this is helpful to some people.

Colleen

[Calicat]

Thanks Colleen for the info! I really appreciate it.

Calicat