is this strep throat or scarlett fever?

[SouthernComforts]

Hi all. Dd has been Ill for a couple of days but last night she started with fever and shivering, vomitting and saying she 'hurt all over'

Gp today said she had a bacterial throat infection and strawberry tongue. He checked her for ages and stressed I should bring her back immediately if she got worse.

Does that mean strep or scarlet fever? Scared to Dr Google.

Dd has a long history it illnesses but this is a new one for me.

Any advice?

I think one can lead to the other, but anti biotics should deal with either. Did he prescribe you any?

There is Scarlett fever going round here, but it's not generally anything to worry about, with penicillin. It is a notifiable disease though, so your gp would have said if he thought it was Scarlett fever I imagine. If she doesn't have a rash and isn't red all over, it's probably just the throat infection.

Thanks, no he just said bacterial throat infection and strawberry tongue.

But that is typical of his style, when she had double pneumonia he told me to 'pop her into the ambulance so they can listen to her chest at the hospital'

He knows what he is doing but dosen't like to worry me, which worries me!

It is the same bacteria causing both, only 30% (or something) of the people getting the strep will get scarlet fever as it is a particular immune response against the bacteria and not every body got the genes to do it (v. simplified explanation). If she doesn't have the rash it is probably "only" strep throat.

Did the GP gave ABs? She should be better and not contagious anymore after 2 days.

It is highly contagious though. Do any members of your family shows any signs of getting a sore throat?
You should boiled sheets and towels, not use her toothbrush (or let her use other people's), cutlery, glasses....

Thankyou, that's helpful.

Yep AB's and calpol.

Forgot to say in OP, the other thing the gp mentioned was her cold hands with high temp.

Sorry, yes my mum has a very sore throat, we live together so it makes sense

Get your mum to get checked too, you can pass strep throat to one another in a circle over and over....
We all had ABs when DD1 got it last year (all with sore throats). I know a family who was ill on and off for almost 6 months until the GP decided to treat them all at the same time.
Replace your old toothbrushes after the ABs.

The reason strep throat is contagious is because GAS bacteria live in your throat and nose making it easily for them to spread to other uninfected people around you. The bacteria travel through small droplets of water, which are released out when you sneeze or cough. As the droplets are sneezed out, they carry the infectious bacteria and land on any surface they find. If you touch any surface which has the bacterial droplets on them and then touch your nose or mouth with your contaminated hands, the infection then starts spreading in you. Similarly, if you share a glass or plate with the infected person or shake their hands, there is a high chance that you may become infected as well. It is best to wash your hands after such occasionsfollowing casual contacts. As mentioned earlier, the bacteria GAS is responsible for causing strep throat, but the Streptococcus class of bacteria also causes impetigo, an infection which causes red sores all over the body, rheumatic fever in addition to some more. The bacteria start growing in the throat or skin which leads to pus formation and non-inflammatory continuation of previous infection. Impetigo is contagious while rheumatic fever is not contagious however, strep throat can come before it, which certainly is contagious. At some times, if you touch skin sores caused by GAS, like impetigo, you can become infected easily. It is again recommended that you wash your hands. Sometimes you can become infected from food that contains the GAS bacteria. Although it does not happen often, strep throat is foodborne as well. That is why before pasteurization, preservation and refrigeration of food was not common, strep throat spread quite commonly. In the past, outbreaks of strep throat used to happen quite commonly due to contamination and consumption of raw milk. But now foodborne strep throat is rare so if many people complain of strep throat after eating food together in a venue, it can indicate contaminated food. When it comes to strep throat, the bacteria starts infecting by colonizing in the throat. The bacteria adheres to the dermal epithelial cells which is due to a specific bacterial surface ligand binding with receptors in the throat. The strong adherence is one of the reasons strep throat cannot be simply washed away so easily. In fact, salivary fluid and mucous passing down the throat cannot scrape the bacteria strongly adhered to the skin of the throat so they continue damaging the tissues in the throat. Previous infections are also crucial as any exposure before leads to weakening of the dermal barriers so when strep throat happens again, the bacteria are able to adhere to the host cells quite easily. Studies have also shown that at certain sites, the other bacteria are in competition with the infectious cells for adherence to the host cells.
Reference: bit.ly/2h220pC