Ot~Has this ever happend to anyone before with kids and strep?

[ampc3]

My DD has been home sick from school since Tuesday with a high fever and coughing.. I took her to the Dr on Tuesday b/c her throat (tonsilis looked yuky) they did the rapid strep test which came back negative and said it was probably just a virus of some sort..


She wasn't complaining that her throat hurt at all? Then the Dr office called this am and said that now the strep test is positive??eek:

I have never had a strep test later come back positive, is this common just curious?
We had a cookout party on Sunday with about a dozen kids too, I sent an email to the parents to give them a heads up!

 

[ldo]

in-office tests have a small degree of error--since she looked so bad, they sent it to the lab to culture up--take several days---she has strep--get on antibiotics and you are not contagious after 24 hours and fever has gone away--all 3 of my kids just finished their meds for strep today!

 

[hildarumpole]

It happened to me and my kids. We all had sore throats, went to the dr., were told the strep test was negative only to get a phone call 2 days later that we all had strep. The nurse said that the quick tests aren't always reliable when strep is in it's early stages.

 

[trayletha]

My DD has had strep several times, she seems to have very little resistance to it, and we have NEVER had the rapid strep come back positive. She also rarely has an especially sore throat, or the rest of her just feels so icky that she barely notices her throat.

I hope she feels better soon!

 

[super_crunch]

My dd just did the same thing.

She had a low fever off and on at night only, and a headache that would come and go with the fever. During the day she felt 100% and wanted to go to school, so off she went.

About 4 days later her fever went up to 102.5 one night and I took her to the doctor the next day. The rapid strep test was negative, but they called us 2 days later to say that she had strep.

Woops! We probably infected half the school, but she felt fine and didn't have a sore throat at all, so we thought it was just a little cold or something.

That was also our first experience with a rapid strep coming back negative and the culture coming back positive.

 

[ampc3]

thanks for the info... it makes me feel better that this is pretty common.

I know it is so werid that she isn't saying her throats hurts at all. Just kindof scary tho with the whole MRSA bacteria thing going around in the high schools.
Hopefully my other two won't get it , but I guess the odds are against them!

 

[bgirl29]

A couple years ago on Dec.23 I took my son who had a sore throat and my daughter who just didn't look quite healthy KWIM to the Dr. since it was almost Christmas just to make sure that they didnt have strep before seeing everyone for Christmas. Sure enough both of them had strep, and since my 11yr DD was complaining that I had dragged her there for a throat culture without a sore throat her Dr told her that sometimes you could even have just an upset stomach. Who knew? So I mentioned to him that I had felt yucky for couple weeks already my stomach had just felt off. Yup he looked in my throat and I had strep too. Sent my husband in the next day with my other daughter and we were all on antibiotics for Christmas.

 

[jakoky]

I took my son in to the emergency room because he had bleeding "growths" on his tonsils...they said it did NOT look like strep, but gave him the swab and sent us home...the next morning i took him in to my doctor, because i really didnt like the look of the growths on the tonsils...my doc also said it definately didnt look like strep and now kole's throat no longer hurt...home we went...the next day the hospital calls and tells me kole has strep throat and to bring him in immediately, he has to be seen my another doc for a prescription...we go in, wait over 2 hours, to be told they are not treating him as his symptoms are no longer there and apparantly it isnt the "bad" strep...on monday (2 days later) i take him back to my doctor as i am nervous about them not treating kole and my doc says the same thing, tells me if kole starts a fever or his throat hurts, bring him back in..well, no antiobiotics and he was fine...i was nervous, but apparently they told me most docs would treat, but we made thru antiobiotic which is good now a days..anothers, that is our strep story...
sharon

 

[sskem96]

I had that happen when I was in college. I went to the campus health center, and my rapid strep was negative, but the regular culture turned out to be positive.

My husband had strep this past May, and my rapid strep was neg, but they went ahead and gave me antibiotics that day anyway because they knew I had been exposed, and I work with high risk newborns.

When DD#2 gets strep, she always has an upset stomach and vomits, but no sore throat. One time I kept taking her to the Dr. because she was vomiting every couple of days, and I knew she had strep, but her cultures kept coming back negative. This went on for 5 months, and then a different Dr. put tubes in her ears because they were full of fluid causing a hearing loss, and while she was in surgery, he cultured her sinuses because they were bloody, and sure enough, it was strep. Our narrow minded Dr. couldn't open her eyes enough to see that you can get strep and not have a positive throat culture. DD was on antibiotics for 3 weeks after that, and we changed to a different Dr. who understands that I know my kids and what symptoms they typically have with certain illnesses, and life's not all about what the throat culture says!

 

[ampc3]

That is very true.. I knew her throat didn't look right, the nurse was even like wow.... I was shocked when they came back and said no strep..

Just got back from the pharamacy, gotta love drive thrus pharamcy's! so she just started her meds...

 

[PollyannaMom]

I agree with the mommy-gut thing, and had just the opposite of the OP happen last year with DS - the rapid culture came back raging, when his throat didn't even look "off".

But he almost always complains of a headache and stomachache right before his throat starts hurting with strep, and since he was running a fever, I had them check "just in case", and boom!

 

[Tammysue5]

Moms seem to know when something is not right. When our last child was 6months old (great baby, not fussy,etc) but I could tell she wasn't feeling right.... Well, Dr. says she looks ok... Good, she is being babtized Sunday...
We wake up Sunday Morning, in a rush, getting everything ready and all the kids dressed. Get to the church notice that she is red in the face. Well, it is hot today and she is in a babtismal gown. During the service... DD is taken by pastor and leader and carried around to every pew as the congregation sings 'her' song. Next day take her back to Dr. (a different one on call) tells me DD has Scarlet Fever. I felt terrible, nothing like exposing a large number of people.

 

[tadamom]

This has happened to us too! My DD is almost 3 and has had strep 3 times! She is just a strep magnet. The day before we were to leave for Disney World in May, I had to take both kids to the dr. b/c they just seemed to be feeling off and they had come down with a mysterious rash. One tested positive on the rapid test for strep and one didn't. They had Scarlet Fever. They went ahead and gave us a prescription for both of them since we were headed out of town and that way if they started feeling bad, we would have the medicine already with us. Thankfully we still had 2 days before we were to go to the parks, they were right as rain when it came time to head to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[daisyduck123]

I had a strep test come back "positive" after 48 hours.
I was mad because I knew I had strep...I ALWAYS know.
The rapid came back "negative". I told the nurse at the urgent care that 75% of the time, the rapid does not work on me.
I tell the doctor not to even bother giving me the rapid anymore.

 

[kldmom2000]

I was a clinical medical assistant and on my internship, I worked in a walk-in clinic with a lab. We always did both a rapid strep and a culture. The rapid one is not highly accurate. The culture has to sit in a petri dish for 48 hours to grow the strep bacteria. After 48 hours, the culture is the test you technically go by.

 

[DISNEYmooner2008]

I told the doc i had strep

"nope, it's negative"

YES I DO

"nope, negative"

***** one day later *******

In the ER with a 105 temperature and guess what??? STREP!!!

Yes yes yes, be very careful - it can be very dangerous. I actually had to be hospitalized because the infection began spreading into my bloodstream.
NOT FUN

 

[zippy doo dah]

I have had the rapid response test (my kids school uses the same ones as our Dr.) come back positive at the school, so I had to take her to the Dr. where he did the same test and it was negative and her throat wasn't even red or sore or anything...I think the school nurse got it mixed up with another student...anyway I have learned no to rely on the rapid response test and results.

 

[SueM in MN]

The Rapid Strep test is a screening test, so it is not meant to be totally accurate. It is a screening test, just to be able to give a quick answer on whether someone has Strep (not whether they don't).
What I was told about it as an Infection Control Nurse is that a positive Rapid Strep Test is accurate, but a negative Rapid Strep Test should always be followed up with a culture.
Here's a good explanation of Rapid Strep Tests.

 

[tcp0421]

My dd 5 was compalining of a sore throat last Monday. I sent her to school and she was fine for the rest of the week. Now on Friday the school nurse called and said that my dd was there with a red throat and a fever..99.8 She came home early and was acting fine. Had no fever the rest of the night. Now yesterday (Sunday) she was saying her ear hurt when she swallows. What is going on here. Should I keep her home from school today?

 

[ampc3]

I would bring her in to the Dr and get her ears checked etc.. You never know.

I think I need to bring my dd back to the DR again too, her cough isn't any better (the medicine they gave her did nothing for it)and she still has a fever and her throat STILL looks yucky. She has been on the anti meds since thursday... Shouldn't her throat look better by now?