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Strep throat is a contagious disease caused by infection with streptococcal bacteria, which causes inflammation and swelling of the mucous membranes lining the back of the throat and the tonsils. The contagious period is over after being on antibiotics for 24 hours. Relief from the sore throat should come within 24 hours to 36 hours after you start taking antibiotics. Doctors recommend throat lozenges, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen and gargling with warm salt water to ease the pain for the first few hours. After the strep throat incubation period, a person may develop mild or severe symptoms. Those who do not experience any of the symptoms described above after infection are called carriers. After 24 hours of treatment, a person is no longer contagious and will begin to feel better. However, they are no longer contagious 24 hours after receiving an antibiotic treatment. Without antibiotics, a patient can be contagious for up to three weeks. During the strep throat incubation period, most people are not aware they have been contaminated. Antibiotics such as amoxicillin, cephalexin, or penicillin are used to treat strep throat. Antibiotics work only against bacterial infections such as strep throat. They will not help sore throats caused by allergies or viral infections such as colds. Antibiotics are commonly used to: 1  Kill the bacteria and shorten the time you are contagious. The strep throat incubation period can vary from person to person. Usually the incubation period lasts between one to five days, meaning that a person who was exposed to the strep bacteria can manifest symptoms after one, two, three, four or five days. Most people develop the illness three days after contact. In the past, when people had signs of strep -- the red, raw throat, spikes in fever, and white spots on the tongue and tonsils -- doctors would culture a specimen from the patient's throat and wait 24 hours to 48 hours for the results.
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/strep_throat/article_em.htm http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/understanding-strep-throat-treatment http://strepthroatsecrets.com/strep-throat-incubation-period/ http://strepthroatsecrets.com/strep-throat-incubation-period/ http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/tc/strep-throat-treatment-overview http://strepthroatsecrets.com/strep-throat-incubation-period/ http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/understanding-strep-throat-treatment
strep throat contagious period