Unlike the very common sore throat, caused by infection with flu-viruses, strep throat is caused by infection with Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus bacteria and is usually more severe. For decades, the primary choice of medications in the treatment of strep throat has consisted in antibiotics. Although at first penicillin was the main antibiotic medication to be prescribed to patients with strep throat, nowadays stronger antibiotics such as erythromycin and clarithromycin are generally preferred over penicillin derivates.

The reason why the treatment of strep throat nowadays requires the use of stronger antibiotics is that most bacterial strains have evolved and have developed increased resistance to old-fashioned antibiotics such as penicillin due to inappropriate treatment. Even at present, the exact following of the doctor’s directions regarding the use of antibiotics plays a crucial role in ensuring the efficiency of the treatment. In case the treatment with antibiotics is prematurely interrupted or the doctor-recommended dose of medications is not respected, infections with streptococcus bacteria can recur, becoming even more resistant.

Regardless of the types of antibiotics involved, the use of such medications in the treatment of strep throat has been contested by most physicians in the last few years. The majority of medical scientists believe that the use of antibiotics in the treatment of strep throat should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. They claim that antibiotics produce a variety of side-effects that render such medications inappropriate for treating strep throat in children and elderly people. Most doctors only recommend the use of antibiotics in case of severe throat infections that may also be associated with complications (acute rheumatic fever, tonsillitis, otitis); however, if the symptoms of strep throat are mild and there are no signs of complications, then antibiotics shouldn’t be used at all.

Traditionally, antibiotics were used in the treatment of strep throat in order to prevent the occurrence of acute rheumatic fever (ARF), complication associated with streptococcus bacteria infections. Even if antibiotics weren’t 100 percent effective in overcoming strep throat, they had the major attribute of preventing the occurrence of rheumatic fever, condition that often resulted in the patients’ death. However, the incidence of rheumatic fever among patients with strep throat has dramatically decreased over the years, and doctors claim that rheumatic fever is no longer a matter of concern at present.

Rheumatic fever has become an extremely rare condition and the isolated cases of ARF registered in the last few years had nothing to do with strep throat, as they involved patients without any recent or past experience of the disease. More elaborate studies have concluded that ARF can no longer be associated with strep throat, as even in the absence of treatment the risks for strep throat patients to develop ARF are equivalent to zero.

Although antibiotics are known to be very unsafe, producing pronounced side-effects on long-term use, the efficiency of such medications in fighting the bacteria responsible for causing strep throat is still a debatable matter. Viewed through the perspective of their effectiveness in curing strep throat, antibiotics have always generated controversial opinions among the medical community. While early medical studies conducted in the 50’s had suggested that antibiotics were unable to produce substantial improvements in strep throat symptoms, a series of studies conducted in the mid 80’s had indicated the opposite.

In order to clarify whether antibiotics are efficient or not in producing complete recovery from strep throat, medical scientists continued the series of studies and have recently concluded that the efficiency of such medications is strongly influenced by a series of factors such as: the age of the patient, the patient’s past experience with strep throat, as well as inadequate use of antibiotics (self-medication, under-treatment, discontinuous treatment, etc).

Considering the fact that antibiotics can produce serious side-effects (weaken the immune system by destroying the benign bacterial flora along with the harmful bacteria, can cause digestive disorders, can increase one’s risk of developing fungal infections, etc) and have variable efficiency in fighting the microorganisms responsible for causing strep throat, such medications are best to be avoided in the treatment of uncomplicated forms of strep throat.