How long does strep throat last with antibiotics

Strep throat is an infection of the throat. Most sore throats are caused by viruses, but some are caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes. This bacterial infection can be treated with antibiotics.

Strep throat infections are very contagious. They are usually passed directly from person to person from talking, coughing or sneezing.

Strep throat is common in school-age children. Children under 2 years old and adults not exposed to children are much less likely to get strep throat.

What are the symptoms of strep throat?

The symptoms of a strep throat infection may include:

CHECK YOUR SYMPTOMS — Use the colds and flu Symptom Checker and find out if you need to seek medical help.

How is strep throat diagnosed?

Your doctor will ask about your symptoms and examine your throat. They may rub a cotton swab against a tonsil in the back of your throat to get a sample of bacteria.

The sample will be tested in a lab to see if the cause of the sore throat is bacteria or a viral infection.

How is strep throat treated?

If your doctor suspects you have strep throat, they may prescribe an antibiotic before you have all the results from the lab tests. It is very important to take all of the prescribed medicine, even after the symptoms have gone away, to prevent the infection from coming back.

The symptoms of strep throat may go away as soon as 24 hours after you start treatment. The symptoms rarely last longer than 5 days.

You can be contagious for 2 to 3 weeks if you’re not treated. But if you take antibiotics, you will stop being contagious after about 24 hours.

Strep throat self-care

It's important you follow the full treatment prescribed by your doctor.

If you have a strep throat, there are a number of different ways that might help ease your symptoms:

• Make sure you have enough fluids. Drink clear soup, cold drinks, and other clear, nutritious liquids. If eating hurts your throat, don't force yourself to eat solid food. When you are able to eat more foods, choose healthy food to give you strength and to help fight the infection.
• Do not smoke. Do not breathe second-hand smoke.
• Gargle with salt water.
• Suck on lozenges or hard candy.
• Don't talk a lot. Rest your voice.
• Put warm compresses on your neck.

Make sure you don’t pass strep throat to anyone else by washing your hands and by covering your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze.

If you have a fever, rest and limit your activities until the fever is gone. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you can take paracetamol, or ibuprofen to reduce your fever and to relieve pain.

Can strep throat be prevented?

The following suggestions may help you prevent the spread of your strep infection to others:

• Avoid close contact with other people until you have been taking the antibiotic for at least 24 hours and you feel well.
• Use tissues when you cough and dispose of them carefully.
• Hand washing is the best method of prevention. Wash your hands before you touch food, dishes, glasses, silverware, napkins, etc.
• Wash your hands after you cough and before you touch certain things, like food, dishes, glasses, silverware or napkins.
• Use paper cups, or separate cups, and paper towels in bathrooms instead of shared drinking cups and hand towels.
• Do not share food and eating utensils with others.
• Do not prepare food for others if you have strep throat.

People with strep throat should not go to childcare, preschool, school or work until they are no longer contagious.

Complications of strep throat

If it’s not treated, strep throat can lead to complications including:

Strep throat is an infection caused by a type of bacteria (group A streptococcus). Strep bacteria are the most common cause of bacterial sore throat in children and teens.

Strep throat usually needs treatment with antibiotics. With the proper medical care — and plenty of rest and fluids — most kids get back to school and play within a few days.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Strep Throat?

Symptoms of strep throat include:

• sore throat
• fever
• red and swollen tonsils
• painful or swollen neck glands

Not all sore throats are strep throats. Often, kids have a sore throat because of a , which will usually clear up without medical treatment.

Kids who do have strep throat might get other symptoms within about 3 days, such as:

• red and white patches in the throat
• trouble swallowing
• a headache
• lower stomach pain
• general discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling
• loss of appetite
• nausea
• rash

Strep throat is very contagious. Anybody can get it, but most cases are in school-age kids and teens. Infections are common during the school year, with peaks in winter and early spring, when big groups of kids and teens are in close contact.

How Do People Get Strep Throat?

The bacteria that cause strep throat tend to hang out in the nose and throat. So normal activities like sneezing, coughing, or shaking hands can easily spread an infection from one person to another.

Kids with untreated strep throat are more likely to spread the infection when their symptoms are most severe, but can still infect others for up to 3 weeks.

That's why it's so important to teach kids to wash their hands. well and often. This can lower their chances of getting contagious diseases like strep throat.

How Is Strep Throat Diagnosed?

If your child has a sore throat and other strep throat symptoms, call your doctor. The doctor will likely do a rapid strep test in the office, using a cotton swab to take a sample of the fluids at the back of the throat. The test only takes about 5 minutes.

If it's positive, your child has strep throat. If it's negative, the doctor will send a sample to a lab for a throat culture. The results are usually available within a few days.

Doctors usually prescribe about 10 days of antibiotic medicine to treat strep throat. Within about 24 hours after starting on antibiotics, your child probably won't have a fever and won't be contagious. By the second or third day, other symptoms should start to go away.

Even when kids feel better, they should take the antibiotics as prescribed. This is the best way to kill the harmful bacteria. Otherwise, bacteria can stay in the throat and symptoms can come back. Completing all the antibiotics also prevents other health problems that a strep infection can cause, such as rheumatic fever (which can cause heart damage), scarlet fever, blood infections, or kidney disease.

To prevent spreading strep throat to others in your home:

• Keep your child's eating utensils, dishes, and drinking glasses separate and wash them in hot, soapy water after each use.
• Make sure your child doesn't share food, drinks, napkins, handkerchiefs, or towels with other family members.
• Teach your child to cover all sneezes or coughs. If a tissue isn't handy, kids should sneeze or cough into their elbow, not their hands.
• Remind everyone to wash their hands well and often.
• Give your child a new toothbrush after the antibiotic treatment starts and they're no longer contagious.

How Can I Help My Child Feel Better?

Home care can help your child feel better while battling strep throat. Give plenty of liquids to prevent dehydration, such as water or ginger ale, especially if your child had a fever. Avoid orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemonade, or other acidic beverages, which can irritate a sore throat. Warm liquids like soups, sweetened tea, or hot chocolate can be soothing.

For fever and pain, your doctor may suggest an over-the-counter medicine, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Follow the package directions on how much to give and when.

Talk to your doctor about when your child can return to normal activities. Most kids can go back to school when they've taken antibiotics for at least 24 hours and no longer have a fever.

Strep throat is an infection in the throat and tonsils (glands in the back of the throat) that is caused by a bacterium known as Group A streptococcus. Strep throat spreads from person to person very easily, especially among family members. It is common in school-aged children but also occurs in adults.

Strep throat can very rarely cause more serious illnesses, such as rheumatic fever, a disease that can harm the heart valves. So, it's important that strep throat is appropriately diagnosed and treated. With proper treatment, strep throat is usually cured within 10 days.

The symptoms of strep throat include:

How does strep throat spread?

Strep throat is spread by:

• Close contact with an infected person
• Sharing an infected person's personal items

Visit your healthcare provider if the symptoms suggest strep throat. Your child will be examined and may be given a strep test (throat culture). Viral illnesses can have the same symptoms as strep throat. This is why it's important that a throat swab be done to confirm the presence of the Strep bacteria in the throat.

What is a strep test?

A strep test looks for Streptococcus bacteria in the throat. The test is painless and takes very little time. The tip of a cotton swab is used to wipe the back of the throat. The swab is then tested.

The rapid strep test takes approximately 20 minutes. If the test is positive (the Streptococcus bacteria is found), the patient has strep throat. If the test is negative (no signs of Streptococcus), the doctor may send the throat swab to a laboratory to double-check the results. Some doctors may not do a rapid strep test and instead just send the throat swab to the laboratory.

Strep throat is treated using antibiotics. An antibiotic is a type of medicine that kills the bacteria that cause the infection.

Antibiotics are often taken as pills or given as a shot. Penicillin and amoxicillin are common antibiotics used to treat strep throat. Other antibiotics are ordered for people who are allergic to penicillin.

Your healthcare provider may give your child a shot or prescribe an antibiotic in either pill or liquid form. The pills or liquid are usually taken for 10 days. Follow your healthcare provider's instructions. Your child should take all of the medication, even if he or she feels better. The bacteria can still be alive even if your child feels okay.

What can be done to relieve the pain of strep throat?

Your child should:

• Drink soothing liquids, such as warm tea.
• Take a pain reliever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®).

Aspirin should not be given to children. Aspirin can cause Reye's syndrome, a life-threatening illness, in children and adolescents who have fevers.

Other sore throats don't need special medicine, so why does strep throat?

Most sore throats are caused by viruses, which cannot be cured with medicine; you can only relieve the aches and pains. Viruses heal on their own and cannot be cured with antibiotics or other medicines.

Strep throat is caused by a bacterium. Infections caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. Strep throat can lead to more serious illnesses, so it's important to get it treated.

You should never take medicines left over from an earlier illness or give a leftover medicine to your children. Leftover antibiotics can also make strep throat more difficult to treat and can cause serious side effects.

Your child should feel better within a day or two after treatment begins.

When can my child return to school after treatment for strep throat?

Your child can return to regular activities, including school attendance, 24 hours after receiving the shot or beginning the antibiotic, if his or her temperature is normal.

If your child is not getting better, let your healthcare provider know right away. Your child should not stop taking his or her medicine, unless your healthcare provider tells you to.

Call your healthcare provider if your child is not improving one to two days after starting the antibiotic. You should also call if your child has any of these symptoms:

• Fever one or two days after feeling better
• Nausea or vomiting
• Earache
• Headache
• Skin rash
• Cough
• Swollen glands
• Painful joints
• Shortness of breath
• Dark urine, rash, or chest pain (may occur three to four weeks later)

Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 09/18/2019.

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Group A Streptococcal (GAS) Disease. (https://www.cdc.gov/groupastrep/index.html) Accessed 11/18/2021.
• Lab Tests Online. Strep Throat Test. (https://labtestsonline.org/tests/strep-throat-test) Accessed 11/18/2021.
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Group A Streptococcal Infections. (https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/group-streptococcal-infections) Accessed 11/18/2021.

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