08-29-2008, 03:21 AM
The reason we treat strep in kids is to prevent the post-strep complication of acute rheumatic fever. This is very rare in kids and extremely unusual in adults. Treating strep pharyngitis in adults shortens the symptoms, on average, by 1-2 days. More importantly, in your case, is that it reduces the exposure of your students to the bacteria - after a single dose of antibiotics, you are no longer contagious. For most adults, though, not treating pharyngitis - strep or not - usually is no big deal, and infection almost always clears up on its own.