Strep throat is one of many illnesses to watch during an ‘immunological catch-up,’ Utah doctor says

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — Just like many other illnesses, strep throat is more common this year than over the last few years, according to Dr. Timothy C. Larsen, a pediatrician at Intermountain Redrock Pediatrics.

And he said as school starts back up in January the number of cases might go up a little bit more, something that is typical at the start of the school year.

Strep throat is spread through direct contact with saliva so luckily, the spread can be prevented. Larsen suggested people don’t share utensils, cups or straws and that they wash their hands before eating.

Larsen said strep throat is one thing that people should get on top of and treat with antibiotics. He suggested taking children with symptoms of strep to a clinic within a day or two. Strep can lead to complications including rheumatic heart disease and kidney problems, but antibiotics can prevent those.

He said strep comes on quickly, typically with a sore throat and fever that begin at the same time and sometimes with swollen lymph nodes and inflamed tonsils or white spots on the tonsils. A runny nose, congestion or cough are not typical with strep.

Intermountain Healthcare’s GernWatch data, which tracks illness levels, shows limited data from across their care system, but Larsen said it is showing levels that are a bit higher than the last few years. He is also seeing a lot of the people coming into the clinic for same-day appointments are diagnosed with strep throat.

He said in general they have been very busy at the St. George clinic, as flu cases continue going up and are much higher than the last five years. Larsen said cases of respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, have been starting to decrease. He also said he has seen multiple COVID-19 cases which initially looked like strep throat.

Larsen said the rise in multiple illnesses this year can be attributed to measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 over the last few years which have led to a little less immunity.

“Those things did have an effect, they helped. Now we’re seeing the downside … now that we’re mingling, which we should be,” Larsen said.

He said it is like we are playing some “immunological catch-up,” but with strep throat it does not appear that the cases are worse even though they are more frequent.