Thanks for the additional information.
The treatment that your son has received to date has been quite
correct.
The pathogen was identified as bacterial, amoxicillin was
prescribed, and when found ineffective, augmentin given. While
augmentin also contains amoxicillin, it is used when amoxicillin
resistance is suspected as it also contains clavulanate, which
defeats the beta-lactamase enzyme bacteria use to resist
amoxicillin.
If he still has a fever, it is a sign that there is still an active
infection and further treatment is indicated. In all
likelihood, however, the infection has been defeated by the
antibiotic treatment, and it may just take a few days for the
throat lining to settle down. You could try using mild
analgesics like ibuprofen, aspirin, etc to alleviate any lingering
discomfort, or throat lozenges containing menthol or similar.
Should you return to your doctor, a further swab may be taken
to establish that the infection has indeed been eradicated. You
may be given a further prescription for a different antibiotic
(possibly an erythromycin), but that is likely only to be for use if
the new test still shows infection, thus saving you another trip to
the doctor. Practice varies in this respect though.
Edited by xarqi on March 3 2005 at 4:30pm
