gbquilter

I used to get strep every year until... I got my tonsils out. I have had it since then, but rarely. Watch your son carefully. Strep can turn into scarlet fever. Other than keeping an eye on him, I would suggest you re-build his immune system with vitamins and very healthy foods. If you are able to do it, have a garden and grow your own veggies.

Tweety2911

My younger son always got strep and the dr. would do blood work and recheck strep to make sure he completely got rid of it. It lasted for a few years and then he just stopped getting strep. Good Luck to your son :-)

Tammy

Have your medical provider culture the throats of everyone in the family. Carriers can be symptom free.Another place to check is your dog...they can carry too.

Tammy, N.P.

hopetoquilt

TOSS THE TOOTHBRUSHES... and possibly the toothpaste (if they scrape it on the infected toothbrushes and run the bathroom cup through the dishwasher!

mythreesuns

My poor son...kept getting strep..we found out I was the carrier. I carry the strep infection, but show no signs at all of the illness. He did have his tonsils out after all his times getting it, (as he got very very ill from strep)he always ended up in the hospital to get IV therapy for dehydration. My other two, never got even 1/4 as sick as he use to get from it. Since his tonsils were removed...knock on wood..he has never had strep since. That has been 16 to 17 years ago now.

ncredbird

We learned in nursing school that the family dog is often times a strep carrier and it can go undiagnosed for years. If you have a pet you might want to get it tested. Our neighbors kids got step all the time over and over again. When I mentioned it to her she looked at me like I was nuts. After having the dog tested and having it come back positive she said "Do you know how much money we could have saved if the Dr had just bothered to mention this". I don't know that Dr's are told this or not. I have four children and none of them ever had strep. Just lucky I guess! Ann in TN

MOMBASIL53

Please be careful...our neighbor was a carrier but presented with no symptoms.....eventually the strep attacked his kidney...went into kidney failure.......had a transplant from his mom........but this past summer passed away due to complications........yes by all means asked them to check the whole family...it might not hurt to have your sons kidney function tested just to be sure there have been no lasting effects. Good Luck

mimi423

I went through this with my son years ago. I don't know about carriers but he would get sick every other month and I'd have him at the doc that day, I just knew it was strep. He actually got Chorea from one incident. I had it as a child also. My doc told me if I don't find someone to take his tonsils out that he would find someone. We did this and haven't had a problem since.

arimuse

I get strep at least twice a yr, every yr since I was around 14 and Im now 62. i try not to ever take antibiotics - mostly over the yrs Ive only taken them thru a dentist to remove infection from a tooth before I can have it worked on. At 14 I got so sick they wanted to take my tonsils out and I faked my mom out by drinking a glass of dill pickle juice (she said if I could stand to swallow sour juice like that my throat wasnt as bad as the dr said!) I never had my tonsils out and somewhere I heard/read they are a strep magnate. Pply an old wives tale, but I still get so sick.
Now, not to be alarming, but I think I got that super bug (mersa?) this last winter. No one was home (hubs and brother work away), I went to the grocery and walking thru the store I could feel a cold sore growing just beneath my rite side lip. By the time I got home there was a red spot the size of a bee sting there, and hurt like heck. I used everything in the house and otc on it, got super sick and then it started to eat into my face. I cant remember what I finally did, looked up something online, but not before it ate thru to the meat in my face and now I have a divet there (it scarred over to heal) the size of a penny.
my best advice is: when there is something going around, keep away from crowds, wash wash wash hands, and never ever touch your face - all very hard for any kid to do. As far as being a carrier, Typhoid Mary was a carrier - I think usually a carrier is someone who can pass an illness and not get sick from it sharet

Momsmurf

There definitely are strep carriers. When I graduated from nursing school my first assignment was to open up a temporary nursary because the original new born nursery was in isolation. As it turned out,after testing all the nurses and doctors associated with that unit, the MD who was in charge of the unit turned out to be a carried....big OOPS there.

It might be a good question to present to your Pediatrician, or even your own PCP.

Good luck.