Is My Kid Contagious?

Strep Throat

Symptoms of this bacterial infection include sore throat, fever, headache, decreased appetite, abdominal pain, and nausea. To confirm that your child has strep, he'll need a throat swab; results take about five minutes. If the test comes up negative, you can get a backup culture (office tests are wrong up to 6 percent of the time), which takes 48 to 72 hours for results. This way, there's little risk of your child's developing serious complications caused by untreated strep.

Treatment A 10-day dose of antibiotics.

Contagious factor Strep is spread by sneezes, coughs, and sharing sippy cups. But knowing this likely won't prevent your child from getting sick: The infection is contagious before symptoms appear. There is a way to prevent him from getting sick again, though. Strep likes to hang out on toothbrushes, so get him a new one 24 hours after he's been on antibiotics -- when he's no longer contagious -- so he won't reinfect himself.