Numerous families in the Lakewood area tell Lakewood Alerts that their children have come down with strep – and sometimes, the symptoms aren’t obvious.
The symptoms of strep are generally straightforward: sore throat, pain when swallowing, fever, red and swollen tonsils, and some others. But for some reason, many of these symptoms have not been showing in recent cases, based on anecdotal reports from parents.
One Jackson resident told Lakewood Alerts that she was having a difficult time preparing her daughter for a minor medical procedure, and mentioned it to the nursing staff at the medical facility where the intervention was to take place. They told her to immediately bring her for a strep culture, explaining that the strep going around New Jersey and large swaths of the country sometimes appears in children as uncharacteristic behavior like wildness, rowdiness, or an excessively bad and disgruntled disposition.
The mother said she brought her daughter for a culture, which confirmed that she indeed was sickened by the virus.
While strep isn’t an uncommon infection, especially among children, they are relatively rare at this time of year. A report in NJ.com on Thursday morning stated that New Jersey hospitals and doctors offices are seeing a rare June surge in strep throat among kids – and this comes after one of the busiest winter strep seasons in years.
Doctors have no explanation for the surge, according to the report.