Have you ever heard a doctor or your mom say that when you're
sick and have a sore throat? Strep throat is a disease caused by
tiny ball-shaped bacteria (say: bak-teer-ee-uh) called group A
streptococci (say: strep-toe-kok-sigh). These bacteria cause up
to 30% of all sore throats and are found in your throat and on
your skin. If a kid has strep throat, the doctor will give him
or her medicine called an antibiotic, which will kill the strep
bacteria. That's good news because sometimes strep throat can
get worse and cause problems with other parts of a kid's body.
For example, untreated strep can cause arthritis (say: ar-thry-
tis) or heart problems from a disease called rheumatic (say:
roo-mat-ick) fever. Most of the time kids get the medicine they
need and recover from strep throat very quickly. After taking
the medicine for 24 hours, you will feel a lot better and will
no longer be contagious. It is really important to take all 10
days of the medicine to make sure you have treated the
infection. How Do I Get