While fever is a common symptom of strep throat, it is possible to have strep throat without a fever. When diagnosing you, a doctor may look for other common strep throat symptoms, such as a sore throat without a cough, swollen lymph nodes, white patches on the tonsils, and tiny red spots on the roof of your mouth.
Symptoms often include pain and fever
Pain when swallowing. Sore throat that can start very quickly and may look red. Red and swollen tonsils. White patches or streaks of pus on the tonsils.
While it's common for individuals to experience a fever when infected with strep throat, it's possible some people won't have a fever at all. You can be infected with group A Streptococcus and experience no fever. In fact, it's possible you may have little to no noticeable symptoms.
“Therefore, best practice is to prescribe antibiotics to prevent future problems and stop the spread of the infection. “While there are times when strep could go away without antibiotics, the problem is that some of those cases could have negative outcomes, especially for very young or elderly patients,” says Moore.
Caused by the group A streptococcus bacteria, strep throat is an infection that requires prompt treatment, particularly in children over the age of 3. Left untreated, strep throat can lead to kidney inflammation or rheumatic fever, a serious illness that can cause stroke and permanent damage to the heart.
If untreated, strep throat can cause complications, such as kidney inflammation or rheumatic fever.
A viral sore throat is typically accompanied by other cold-like symptoms, such as cough, sneeze, runny nose and a hoarse or raspy voice. “A strep infection can make it feel very painful to swallow, and often comes with fever of 101-degrees or higher,” said Schairer.
Get an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:
your child is unwell and is getting worse. your child is feeding or eating much less than normal. your child has fewer wet nappies than usual or is peeing less than usual, or shows other signs of dehydration.
If the rapid testing is positive, your doctor will order antibiotics. So the take home message is this, if your child has a sore throat, give him or her some pain reliever for 1-2 days. If it persists without any cold symptoms, especially if there is a fever, go see your doctor for a strep test.
If you or your child has a sore throat but tests negative for strep, your healthcare provider will consider other conditions resembling strep, like the common cold or flu, to make a diagnosis. Noninfectious causes of sore throats, like allergies or acid reflux, will also be considered.
Symptoms of Strep Throat Infection
Other symptoms include sore throat, fever, headache, stomach pain, nausea and vomiting. Cough, hoarseness, red eyes, and runny nose are not seen with Strep throat. These symptoms point more to a viral cause.
Rapid strep test kits are available over the counter at drugstores and do not require a doctor's prescription. These tests are quick and easy to use, giving you results in as little as five minutes. It works just like a rapid test that doctors perform.
Your child should feel better in a few days. Your child can spread strep throat to others until 24 hours after he or she starts taking antibiotics. Keep your child out of school or daycare until 1 full day after he or she starts taking antibiotics. Follow-up care is a key part of your child's treatment and safety.
Strep throat, which is an infection due to streptococcus bacteria, is another cause of sore throats and tonsillitis. With strep throat, the sore throat is often more severe and persists. Tonsillitis is a painful inflammation or infection of the tonsils, the tissue masses located at the back of the throat.
Your doctor may perform a rapid antigen test on a swab sample from your throat. This test can detect strep bacteria in minutes by looking for substances (antigens) in the throat. If the test is negative but your doctor still suspects strep, he or she might do a throat culture.
Strep throat is an infection in your throat and tonsils (the lymph nodes in the back of your mouth). With strep throat, your tonsils become very inflamed. This inflammation typically affects the surrounding area of your throat as well, which causes a sore throat (pharyngitis).
Visual clues include swollen tonsils that are red in appearance. They may also have streaks of pus or white spots. Red spots called petechiae may appear on the roof of the mouth. Some strep throat patients develop a red rash on their body, which is referred to as scarlet fever.
Strep throat typically resolves in three to five days if untreated. Despite the short duration, antibiotic treatment is recommended to reduce the risk of complications. Symptoms typically resolve within one to three days following the start of antibiotics.
“Strep is as contagious as any virus, if not more. It's rare as far as bacteria goes in that it can be spread by droplets and live on inanimate surfaces for a period of time.” Brunner adds that strep is definitely more common when children are congregating and the weather keeps people inside.
Strep throat typically goes away in three to seven days with or without antibiotic treatment. However, if you don't take antibiotics, you can remain contagious for two to three weeks and are at a higher risk for complications, such as rheumatic fever.
Children who develop strep throat repeatedly may have contact with a carrier of strep, likely at home or in a child care setting — or they may be strep carriers themselves. A strep carrier is someone who has the strep-causing bacteria, but who is not having symptoms.
Does Strep Throat Cause Cough? Cough is generally not a symptom of strep throat. Cough, hoarseness, runny nose, reddened eyes and other symptoms may point to a viral respiratory infection.
“No doctor or parent can tell whether a child has strep just by looking at the throat,” she emphasizes. Even when a doctor strongly suspects that an infection is strep throat, a throat swab is necessary to confirm the diagnosis.