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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Can Antibiotics Be Taken For Sore Throat Despite A Negative Strep Culture?

Hello I started having a sore throat last Sunday, with no other symptoms until Wednesday morning, where I started a fever with chills in addition to the swelling sore throat. Thursday morning I made an appointment with ZoomCare, and they did a rapid strep test(neg), flu(neg) and mono(neg). They sent out a strep culture to the lab, and started me on a 10 day course of Penicillin. I started the antibiotics Thursday evening, and just an hour ago received the lab results saying it wasn t strep and to stop the antibiotics. I still feel like it was strep(swollen throat and tonsils, white patches, swollen glands all over neck, fever(102 and 103), ear pain, chills, body ache, and no energy. I m worried that if I don t finish the course of antibiotics, whatever it is will come back worse. What should I do?
Mon, 8 Jan 2018
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ENT Specialist,  's  Response
Infection of tonsils can occur either bacterial or viral following a common cold,droplet spread.The most common cause of tonsillitis is streptococci infection,but there are a lot many bacteria and viruses that can cause tonsillitis like h.influenza,staphylococcus,rsv virus,epstein barr virus etc.Infectiuos mononucleosus is characterized by fever,sore throat,swollen glands and fatigue.The diagnosis is supported by blood tests and treatment is usually supportive. A suspicion of bacterial tonsillitis can be further supported by identification of elevated WBC counts in blood.Strting or continuing antibiotics in your case is controversial,waiting 3-4 days for clinical improvement can be done before starting antibiotics as culture is negative.If there is fever spikes and pain penicillin should be continued for 10 days.In addition start on warm salt water gargles,acetaminophen for pain and fever,adequate calorie and fluid intake is advised.
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Can Antibiotics Be Taken For Sore Throat Despite A Negative Strep Culture?

Infection of tonsils can occur either bacterial or viral following a common cold,droplet spread.The most common cause of tonsillitis is streptococci infection,but there are a lot many bacteria and viruses that can cause tonsillitis like h.influenza,staphylococcus,rsv virus,epstein barr virus etc.Infectiuos mononucleosus is characterized by fever,sore throat,swollen glands and fatigue.The diagnosis is supported by blood tests and treatment is usually supportive. A suspicion of bacterial tonsillitis can be further supported by identification of elevated WBC counts in blood.Strting or continuing antibiotics in your case is controversial,waiting 3-4 days for clinical improvement can be done before starting antibiotics as culture is negative.If there is fever spikes and pain penicillin should be continued for 10 days.In addition start on warm salt water gargles,acetaminophen for pain and fever,adequate calorie and fluid intake is advised.