Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This was not a fun weekend. My youngest- 9 next month- fought a high temp starting Saturday night around 10 p.m. It ranged from 102.5 all the way up to 104.2 before I took her to the emergency room. Dr said the rapid results strep test was negative even tho her throat was red and she had pus pockets. They gave her amoxicilin and of course I'm keeping her home from school today.
dr said about 15% of negatives are false and a culture will probably come back positive. if it isn't strep it is probably a viral infection.
have your kids ever had a false negative? what happened subsequently?
I'm afraid my other daughter and the rest of the family will catch it. My throat is scratchy this morning and of course DH has been out of town for 10 days. Hopefully he will be home this evening.
I had strep every year until I was about 12. Then once again when I was 17. I have to say having it at 17 was the worst. I never had a false negative, but they did say the rapid test was less accurate than the over night one.
Even though I had it a lot I think my sister only had it once. I would say if you are given the option to have a shot of antibiotics vs oral medicine, take the shot! It made me feel so much better a lot quicker, by the next day I felt Much much better.
It's a sucky illness and some people are unfortunately prone to it.
Thanks Ohio. I asked the dr for a shot and he said no. can't remember now why. She's up and about now. still a fever but less and she ate for the first time in 30+ hours. She barfed what little drink I got down her right in the entrance of the hospital. So I'm going slow on food today. thanks for the response. Anybody else?
Just to echo Ohio....the rapid strep is not as accurate. Which is why they usually (always?) do both tests if it comes up negative (I don't think it gives a false positive though). We used to be in for strep frequently. My ped always said she had good news and bad news. Bad news? Strep. Good news? Strep. At least strep can be treated and they'll typically feel better and be back in school in a day....
Interesting that this subject should come up. My 16 yr. old has been to the Dr. 3 times in the last 4ish months or so for strep-like symptoms. Rapid tests came back negative all 3 times, but she was put on antibiotics anyway each time. Last week when we were in yet again, the Dr. finally decided to do the culture (they hadn't done one before because she was put on meds. anyway ).
Guess what? She did have strep! Problem is that the rapid test (apparently) only tests for the most common strain of strep. My daughter had an uncommon strain that never would have shown up as a positive with a rapid test.
Is this considered a false negative? Not sure, but she did have strep all along. Glad we know now.
No Kudzu, if the culture comes back negative, and your daughter continues to feel ill, ask the doctor to do a mono test. They rarely consider it in young children, which is how my 3 yr old ended up hospitalized. I have heard from others that their children got mono well before the usual teen years.
Thanks Mattie, I never would have thought of mono. I had it at 16 myself but it was after a long respiratory illness. My mother was a chain smoker. Funny thing is she had absolutely no symptoms. no sore throat, chills, cough, anything. Just showed up at my bed about 11 p.m. and said she didn't feel good. DH is on his way home, she feels better and all is right with the world...well at least for the next 5 minutes.
I'm not sure. About 3 weeks after we moved here DS almost 2 came down with a fever of 105 and had it for a week, even on antibiotics. It was the 1 month of our lives that we didn't have health insurance, so we went to a walmart clinic. They didn't do the strep test, but prescribed antibiotics anyway. A few days later w/ no change we went to the ER and the strep test came back negative. We'll never know what it was, but after a week he was fine.
Just to echo Ohio....the rapid strep is not as accurate. Which is why they usually (always?) do both tests if it comes up negative (I don't think it gives a false positive though). We used to be in for strep frequently. My ped always said she had good news and bad news. Bad news? Strep. Good news? Strep. At least strep can be treated and they'll typically feel better and be back in school in a day....
The rapid strep test is 100% accurate for postive strep; about 95% accurate if it's negative. We send our negatives to a lab for a "gold standard" culture. Very few come back positive.
Many times kids with extremely high temps and lots of upper-respiratory symptoms do not have strep, but a viral illness. As maciesmom says above, strep can be treated. Sadly, viral illnesses cannot, and the child just has to get better with TLC.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
). 
and had it for a week, even on antibiotics. It was the 1 month of our lives that we didn't have health insurance, so we went to a walmart clinic. They didn't do the strep test, but prescribed antibiotics anyway. A few days later w/ no change we went to the ER and the strep test came back negative. We'll never know what it was, but after a week he was fine.
