Sore throats; we all get them, we all hate them, we all wish
they’d just go away. However, taking them more seriously may soon become a
must. Parents need to take sore throats more seriously and treat them more
aggressively when they are discovered. Thousands of people unnecessarily die
each year. These lives could be saved simply by obtaining penicillin. The strep
throat virus can be dangerous if not properly taken care of. Caused by Group A
streptococcus bacteria, it can lead to rheumatic heart disease which causes the
antibodies within the immune system to gang up and attack the heart muscles and
joints and everything is just absolutely awful and going haywire. Long story
short, you do NOT want to have this happen to you. Over 500,000 people die per
year thanks to this easily prevented problem. However, it is not always so easy
to detect. Taking a strep test can take days to grow enough bacteria to
determine what is growing. And even once it is determined to be strep, the
heart disease is very easy to miss. In fact only 10% of the cases are caught
early enough and by the simple use of a stethoscope. Having one shot of
penicillin, nine days within the time of having strep throat will usually
prevent any kind of heart damage. However, by the time the strep tests come
back positive, it may be hard to catch it.
I think this article does a good job at describing the
causes and effects of strep throat. However, I do think that it should’ve been
a little more specific when it came to how severe this problem is. The article
states that it causes many deaths and is a huge problem, but in reality, how
many people do we know who have had this problem? I know I’ve had strep throat
numerous times and as far as I’m concerned, I seem to be doing just fine.
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/health/a-start-to-saving-lives-treating-sore-throats.html?_r=0
Picture: http://www.fastmed.com/strep-throat
I've never had strep throat but I've heard it's awful. I have, however, gotten plenty of sore throats and most of the time I don't go to the doctor for that. I can see why a lot of people, like me, don't go to the doctor for a sore throat because it usually goes away, we take cough medicine, and cough drops, and it passes. Going to the doctor even time you get a sore throat would be really expensive as well, just for the visit. Unfortunately, the symptoms of strep throat are like a common soar throat so it's hard to catch at first, and I can see how it would escalate from there. If going to the doctors every time one has a sore throat is necessary, then we should probably do it. The importance of this really needs to be addressed, and maybe visits to the doctor for sore throats should be discounted.
ReplyDelete