Hospital official warns that ‘strep is running rampant’

You may notice more people wearing masks these days, but it’s not necessarily because of a resurgence of COVID-19. It’s because of strep throat.

“Strep is running rampant,” Northeastern Health Systems Sequoyah hospital administrator Stephanie Six told the Sequoyah County Commissioners at their weekly Monday meeting.

Stephanie Six

“For the past week, [strep] seems to be the one thing that’s going on with a lot of respiratory patients coming through [the hospital],” Six elaborated following the meeting. “I don’t know if it’s because of allergies and people aren’t treating their allergies and that it’s moving into something more serious, like strep.

“Of course, strep is contagious. People are out and about with the weather and wanting to get out and do stuff, so I think that’s adding to it at this point. And people are gathering more,” she said. “It’s just kind of running rampant right now.”

Six explained that wearing a mask “would absolutely” help limit spreading the bacterial infection as well as contracting it from others, because “strep is droplets, so it is respiratory.”

A person with strep throat is most contagious during the initial days of illness. And while there are several symptoms, Six says one of the primary indicators is fever.

“Especially if you’ve got a fever, you need to stay home until the fever’s gone. Even a low-grade fever, you’re still contagious right now. So the more we can keep people home with that fever, the better off we are,” she says.

Six says an ounce of prevention is worth the proverbial pound of cure.

“Just staying away from crowds of people” is the best way to avoid contracting strep throat. Then “if they have something going on respiratory-wise of any kind, make sure you get treatment early and treat your symptoms.”

Key symptoms of strep throat include:

• Sore throat

• Pain when swallowing

• Fever

• Red, swollen tonsils

• Swollen lymph nodes

• Tiny red spots on the roof of the mouth

• White patches or streaks of pus on the tonsils

• Possible rash

In addition, other possible symptoms are:

• Headache

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Stomach pain

Strep throat is typically diagnosed with a throat swab test, and antibiotics are the standard treatment.

While strep throat can sometimes resolve on its own within a few days, it’s generally recommended to seek medical treatment with antibiotics, as it can lead to complications if left untreated.

“You’re going to need a round of antibiotics and, usually, seven to 10 days on the antibiotics. But after a couple of days, once your fever’s gone, you’re no longer contagious,” Six explained.

“We used to see more younger people with strep, but right now, it’s a lot of older people, I’ll say middle-aged,” she said.

Six said it’s difficult to predict how long strep will be a concern because the current outbreak is “really kind of abnormal, so you can’t really tell on that.”

“It’s a little bit higher than we usually see,” she said in an attempt to compare it to previous years. “We just went through Covid, so I don’t even know what is normal at this point.”

Six said there have been several reported cases of strep throat in neighboring counties.