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The latest guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America are a timely reminder of the over-use of antibiotics for treating sore throats, when the majority have a viral cause. Rapid antigen detection test (RADT) is the favoured method of diagnosis and the 8-expert author panel advise against testing children under 3 years of age in the USA setting because Group A Strep is rare in this epidemiological group. Antibiotics should be restricetd to RADT-positive or culture-confirmed cases and a long course of penicillin or amoxicillin to erradicate carriage is reccommended for those without penicillin allergy. You can read the full article here:
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/09/06/cid.cis629.full
This resource was originally posted in Global Health Microbiology.