Strep Throat - how infectious?

[daffy654]

My 12 year old son is on antibiotics (Phenoxymethylpenicillin,250mg two four times daily for 10 days) for strep throat, he has a very sore throat with white ulcer type spots at the back and roof of his mouth. He is also covered from head to toe in a rash of tiny red pin-prick spots that is hot to touch. The doctor said I must keep him at home until at least monday. What I want to know is how infectious is he? am I likely to catch this from him and what would be the likelihood of complications with me having underlying health problems (emphysema and asthma). I have tried googling for this info but had no luck finding an answer...my GP was pretty useless when I asked him too :-(

[NoMercy]

Could the streptococcus have entered the bloodstream via a bleeding ulcer?

[daffy654]

The doctor had no idea NoM. My son is usually very healthy, in fact he has only ever been ill once before since his birth. He's actually coping with it all fairly well considering he is pretty baffled by it all (he has Asperger Syndrome). I think I may have to try and get through to my consultant by phone to see if I need prophylactic antibiotics :-(

My bloody GP is a waste of space!

[Sqad]

daffy.

Method of spread of Streptococcus....unknown...probably by droplet....coughing on you.
Yes, you may catch it, but there is bu99er all that you can do about it now.
If you caught it, you could develop a pneumonia.
Red spots over his body, may well be a hypersensitivity to a penicillin or to the organism itself.

Don't worry daffy.............nothing much now you can do about it.

[daffy654]

Thanks sqad, it is as I feared then...i'll either catch it or I may be lucky (and pigs might fly.lol). Time to break out the antibacterial hand gel again!
The spots pre-date the antibiotics so it isn't an allergic reaction to them, the GP said it was classic strep throat rash whatever that means.

[Sqad]

"Classic strep throat rash" means an allergic or skin reaction to the streptococcus.

You will be fine daffy......."monitor the situation" ;-)

[pastafreak]

Apparently, strep throat is quite common amongst young teens. The son of a friend of mine developed it last week. Were it not for me telling my friend it sounded like strep, she may not have mentioned it to her doctor. She also has some serious health issues, but she is fine so far.

[daffy654]

Hi Pasta :-)
I only took my son to the doctors because of the rapid spreading of the rash, at first I thought it was just one of those viral rashes that limits itself to the torso usually and then disappears in a day or so. When my son showed me that his rash was from his neck down to his feet after 1 day I thought he needed to be assessed by a medical professional. I'm glad I did because the poor lad is felling very ill now and is in considerable pain in his throat and bizzarely his joints have started to ache :-/