Strep Throat Harmless To Almost All

Ocean County Observer

May 20, 1985

Prior to the age of antibiotics a sore throat was just a pain. But to a small minority of youngsters it was lethal. This wasn’t understood before the 1930s when the morbid relationship between beta hemolytic streptococcus Group A and rheumatic fever was described. Until then rheumatic fever was as much a mystery as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus erythematosis is today.

But then it was discovered that a small cluster of human beings, when afflicted with streptococcus infection, made antibodies that not only intercepted the germ, but also reached with the patient’s own tissues, mainly the heart, and in some instances the brain as well.

From this relationship the $100 sore throat developed. Never to do anything in dribs and drabs, this country has developed a total strep elimination program designed to protect us from strep sore throat. Strep is advertised as a real danger to everyone, and patients in a cold sweat, point to their kid as they ask “Is it strep doc?”

But for most a strep throat is just a sore throat. It hurts and responds to penicillin. But a small number of us will develop rheumatic fever which bites the heart and licks the joints. And in the unlucky individual each successive exposure to this strep will reactivate the antibody and cause more heart and joint damage.

All of this can be prevented by administering the plainest penicillin to the patient. Penicillin is lethal to strep; the germ never becomes resistant; and the proper treatment of rheumatic fever victims is repeated administration of penicillin with each attack. The experts claim that this regimen can be stopped at age 20. Don’t believe it. There are cases in which people over thirty and 50s that after new strep exposure will develop new rheumatoid lesions. Once rheumatic, penicillin is for life.

Schools try to combat this linkage between strep and RHD by culturing the throat of all kids with sore throats. This sets off alarms, repeat doctor visits, repeat throat cultures, examination of throats of family members, culturing their throats looking for strep carriers.

Most of this strikes me as nonsense. The germ isn’t about to go away and most of the time it is completely harmless. But the populace has been so brainwashed about the dangers of strep throat that they gladly dish out money for complete repeated examinations.

Can individuals prone to RHD be singled out? No! If not, then why not screen all kids with sore throats for strep in the vain hope that the procedure will prevent all kids from getting RHD. It won’t because even a faint scratchy throat of no apparent clinical significance can be due to strep and cause a flare up of RHD in those susceptible. And each nip of RHD nips away at heart muscle. The victim never knows until too late that s/he has been victimized.

So we have an unmarked population of youngsters susceptible to RHD and we keep them unmarked by immediate treatment of all sore throats with penicillin.

Perhaps it would be wiser to let kids get their first attack, treat them, make a diagnosis, and then put them on penicillin for life.

True the first attack might cause some damage, but it would be their last attack if properly treated for life. In other words, don’t rush to treat sore throats.