Knowledge on strep! Help please

[hotfairballoon]

Hi all, really wanting some advice from some experts who may know.

Over Mother's Day, my husband developed a very nasty case of tonsillitis out of the blue. It was definitely bacterial and responded well to antibiotics. He has not had tonsillitis since he was a kid when he did suffer several nasty bouts & almost had his tonsils out.

A month later (just after Easter weekend) I then developed a very nasty bout. Odd that there was so much time in between. I had never ever had it before and felt like I might die. Mine was also definitely bacterial and antibiotics also solved mine.

Roll on to today, and my husband now has it again 😩 I've changed our toothbrushes after I was ill and read that I needed to do that, I also started using dettol in our washing etc etc, everything hot washed.

My children haven't had it this whole time.

So my question is, if they are carrying it, how do we get rid of it? Any other ideas why we're getting it so badly and so frequently? I don't think I can do it again! It writes off a week of our lives we're so unwell with it. Not to mention that initial battle to get antibiotics.

Please help!

It may be that the antibiotics didn't fully clear up the original infection the first time, your husband has passed it onto you and then you passed it back so to speak. How long was the course of antibiotics for each of you?

5 days each. It's such long periods of time between our infections though I think it's unlikely we're reinfecting each other. I think it's more likely our youngest is a carrier, but I have no idea how we tackle that as obviously we're not going to get antibiotics for him unless he's ill.

My son suffered with tonsillitis and had it about 3 times in one year. The doctor said if he got it again he would have to have tonsils removed, he didn’t want this, thankfully they don’t always do this now. We got to know the signs early so we got antibiotics quick which really helped to shorten the length of time he was ill. We have a very strict routine with him, never share drinks or drink from a can, always use a clean glass for drinks and wash glass before use. He has Difflam which is an antiseptic throat spray which he uses for the slightest tickle in throat.

Glad your son is well. As adults it's not so common for us to have recurrent infections so I'm trying to just gain advice on how we can combat this as my husband is missing work etc.

Some people do get recurrent tonsillitis and I get that but it's just odd that myself and husband both had it so far apart but close enough to ask questions and now he has it again.

if it was strep he/you support have had 10 days worth of penicillin, so whatever you have may not have been enough to fully kill all the bugs which have gradually reproduced enough to overwhelm DH again.

Rather than worry about the kids being carriers I think you need DH swabbed to check he's on the right meds

GPs didn't offer to do that and just said 5 days was the right course, we were both given the same. And to be fair it did work for both bouts, if he developed it 3 days after finishing the course I'd agree that he had originally needed 10 days but it's been 6 weeks, so this seems odd to me.

Will ask him to ask for a swab when he contacts the GPs this time though, thanks!