What’s the difference? is a new editorial product that explains the similarities and differences between commonly confused health and medical terms, and why they matter. It’s the time of the year for coughs, colds and sore throats. So you might have heard people talk about having a “strep throat”.
But what is that? Is it just a bad sore throat that goes away by itself in a day or two? Should you be worried? Here’s what we know about the similarities and differences between strep throat and a sore throat, and why they matter. How are they similar? It’s difficult to tell the difference between a sore throat and strep throat as they look and feel similar. People usually have a fever, a bright red throat and sometimes painful lumps in the neck (swollen lymph nodes).
A throat swab can help diagnose strep throat, but the results can take a few days. Thankfully, both types of sore throat usually get better by themselves . How are they different? Most sore throats are caused by viruses such as common cold viruses, the flu (influenza virus), or the virus that causes glandular fever (Epstein-Barr virus).
These viral sore throats can occur at any age. Antibiotics don’t work against viruses so if you have a viral sore throat, you won’t get better faster if you take antibiotics. You might even have some unwanted antibiotic side-effects .
But strep throat is caused by Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria, also known as strep A. Strep throat is most common in school-aged children.