the culture of strep testing

[mimi21]

When I was a kid, I only had a strep test a few times, when there was a visibly red and very sore throat with a fever.

Nowadays, it seems like everyone is being encouraged to test their kids for strep all the time, especially if a classmate turns up positive. Several times I have heard one parent or another say something about how their child has no symptoms, but tested positive and now they are on abx. I have also been chastised for not having my kids tested for strep (they were not sick AT ALL) because a (healthy) classmate had tested positive.

I don't get that! Why are so many people testing positive all the time? What are we supposed to be worried will happen if our healthy kid isn't diagnosed with strep? Does the test really mean anything if you can be positive but not sick? Is anyone else noticing this trend, or is it just the backwards little burb where I live?

Antibiotics are a great discovery, but IMO it is overuse like this that will render them useless in our lifetime.

[StephandOwen]

I've never heard of this. That's just.... weird. My ds gets strep a lot (6 times in the last 12 months). He, obviously, has tested positive every time he's had a test but we've only tested him when we suspected that's what was wrong (and he *was* sick each time we tested him). I hate giving him antibiotics when he needs them, I don't know why some parents would give them to a kid who didn't need them. Maybe the mindset that if the kid tests positive (even though not showing any symptoms) and they do antibiotics then the kid will never get *really* sick, meaning the parent wouldn't have to worry about keeping kid home from school and finding care for that kid?

Like I said.... that's weird.

[mimi21]

the mindset that if the kid tests positive (even though not showing any symptoms) and they do antibiotics then the kid will never get *really* sick, meaning the parent wouldn't have to worry about keeping kid home from school and finding care for that kid?

I think there is something to this, but i don't really get why people in this category would care whether I have my (perfectly healthy) kids tested. there is this sense of urgency, like we are warding off the plague or something.

[balancedmama]

I was reading about this lately. What I remember is that most people have strep living in their body and that a certain percentage of people will be colonized with strep to the extent that the test will show up positive even when they aren't technically infected. I found in several places that a strep culture shouldn't be conducted unless a particular set of circumstances existed which included fever, sore throat, redness etc. It seems like doctors are just ignoring those guidelines.

[mimi21]

What I remember is that most people have strep living in their body and that a certain percentage of people will be colonized with strep to the extent that the test will show up positive even when they aren't technically infected.

Right, so I guess that nowadays we take the test as the only valid indicator of the need for abx?

Does the test really mean anything if you can be positive but not sick?

What about this? Are any of you being guided by your doctors to take into account the symptoms along with the test results? Or are they telling you, "well, it's positive so just give them the abx."

I told my pede about what I am seeing and he was incredulous. Is it maybe the Minit Clinics, helping pharma sales?

[queencarr]

My general rule is to tread cautiously with abx, but I have two special needs kids, so have sometimes treated them prophylactically if a sibling or parent is sick in a way that they are susceptible to. We did this for flu 1x (not technically abx, but antiviral), and one other time for strep. It was over the holidays, my Mom and husband had been here, and after going home they were sick and positive for strep. The five of us passed it around for weeks (8 I think), despite abx when sick (again all tested positive for strep). We'd get one person well, only to have the next one fall and the next and the next. Finally, when the next person got sick, we all took a round of abx to stop it from spreading. It stopped it, and no one else was sick. So I can see it in situations like that where it is an unending cycle. We were all probably carying subclinical levels, and then getting reinfected from each other, bringing it to clinical levels.

[AllyRae]

I've never noticed anything like this...I have 3 kids and none of them have ever been tested for strep...

[~Demeter~]

When I was a child I was what they called a strep carrier. If my doctor did a rapid strep test on me, it would come back positive every time. My strep culture had to be sent away for the overnight results and come back positive before I was treated with antibiotics.

The problem I had as a child was that as soon as I had a sore throat I was brought into the doctor and my body was not being given the chance to fight off the strep infection on it's own. When I was 15 years old a doctor became wise (I had been sick with strep numerous times that year) he told my father that I needed to let the sickness invade my body and let my body fight back for awhile before treating it with abx. If that didn't work I would need my tonsils taken out. Funny enough, given the chance my body must have developed some really awesome response to strep because I do not get sore throats anymore and haven't had an issue with strep since. I will say I have never been so sick in my life as I was when my body was fighting off the infection... but I'm glad to have gone through that and still have my tonsils.