 [ Symptoms ] can arthritis spread  i was diagnosed with having arthritis in my lower back at the same time i was beginning to have symptoms in the middle of my back and now on the top of my back i was wondering if the arthritis is spreading through my back the symptoms are all the same and now it is affecting my whole back [ Disease ] see a medical provider so you can be properly examined and perhaps tested for strep there are numerous non strep reasons for a sore throat like viruses or environmental reasons like the dryness you mentioned but causes cannot be blindly determined based solely on a posted description of the problem because of nerve pathways one can get ear pain from a problem in the throat or a person can have more than one medical problem at the same time a sore throat and an ear infection