Severe strep throat complications are generally quite rare. For most people, antibiotics are sufficient to treat the illness, and in many cases, people can even fully heal without any treatment. In very few cases, more serious strep throat complications are possible, including rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, and kidney damage. There are also some less serious strep throat complications like sinusitis and ear infection.
Most of the more serious strep throat complications tend to occur after a person recovers from the initial symptoms. In a typical case, an individual might recover on his own without antibiotics, and his symptoms may disappear. At this point, he might start developing mysterious symptoms of a more serious condition, and he may not know what is causing them. This can happen up to several weeks after the patient’s recovery from the initial strep throat infection. Most doctors say that antibiotics greatly reduce the chances of these complications, but they are not considered a guarantee.
After a person recovers from strep throat, sometimes his immune system may start to go a little bit haywire and attack his organs. This sort of immune system behavior is thought to be responsible for rheumatic fever and kidney damage in particular. These disorders can have a lot of wildly varying effects, so caution is generally advised regarding any abnormal symptoms after recovering from a strep infection.
The scenario for scarlet fever is generally a bit different than some of the other strep throat complications. A typical scarlet fever outbreak will develop while the strep throat symptoms are still occurring, usually within a few days of their appearance. The primary symptom of scarlet fever is a rash that might last for six or seven days, and there may be peeling and other signs of scarlet fever for about two weeks. The antibiotics used to treat strep throat will also usually work to treat scarlet fever.
Strep throat is caused by a bacterium called group A streptococcus. It is generally considered to be the most common cause of throat infections. The bacterium is typically spread through coughing and sneezing along with direct physical contact, and this makes it relatively easy to pass around from one person to another. In addition to strep throat and the complications listed above, group A streptococcus is also the bacteria responsible for the so-called “flesh-eating disease," which can be potentially deadly in many situations.
