First of all he/ she will take your temperature. He will pay particular attention to the patient' s throat, nose, mouth and ears. If the doctor comes to the conclusion that all you have is a step throat, antibiotics will be prescribed for you and no other tests will be necessary.

If the doctor is not sure if you have a strep throat or not, a quick test will be performed. This is very easy and fast, and will detect even up to 90 percent of step throat cases. There is always the case when the doctor does not want to take the result of the test into consideration, because he feels differently. Then some throat fluids will be taken and send to the lab. Results are available within 2 days tops.

Infections like this one are very common and cannot be easily prevented. But there are ways to try reduce the risk of ending up with a strep throat. Here are some of them:

- try washing your hands as many times as possible;

- if a person in your family suffers from a sore throat, avoid the contact as much as possible;

- if a child has a strep throat, do not let this child return to school until 2 days have passed or the symptoms have ameliorated;

To treat this kind of ilness, especially if it is a viral one is very difficult, because antibiotics don' t work for viruses. In these cases all one can do is get plenty of rest, drink as much water as you can, take aspirin, but only if you are an adult. More, you can drink warm tea, or even eat ice cream to smoothen up the pain in your throat, take vitamin C, but if only recommended bu the doctor.

These measures that the patient must take are for it' s own benefit and comfort, but antibiotics must be taken as well. Their role is to avoid any complications that a person may have because of the sore throat.

All the things above can be followed without a doctor' s advice, for they are harmless. but if you feel pain when you swallow, and this pain can prevent you from drinking any fluid, or you drool too much or have difficulty breathing, contact a doctor. He will diagnose you better and give you the best treatment.