Medicine
Streptococcal infection is a disease that is caused by streptococcus bacteria. This disease can easily spread from one person to another. The disease mostly affects children between the ages of 5 to 15 years. However, the condition also affects people of all ages. The diseases usually affect the throat. Some of the symptoms of the disease are fever, enlarged lymph nodes nausea and fatigue (Martin, 1999). The disease can be treated using antibiotics considering the fact that it is caused by a bacteria. If the disease is not treated, it can lead to complications that can even lead to death.
When the disease is not treated, the symptoms become intense and may even continue for a week. The disease may then result to tonsillitis or scarlet fever. If an individual has no strong immune system, the disease may become systemic and therefore affect several parts of the body.
It is important that the disease is treated within the shortest time possible to avoid the complications associated with the disease. Failure to treat the disease can lead to several fatal diseases. First, the disease can lead to the destruction of the cardiovascular muscles. When this happens, it means that the heart is not able to pump oxygen to all the parts of the body and therefore an individual may require a machine to facilitate breathing. Generally, damage of the heart muscles can leads to chest pain and can finally lead to death of the patient.
The untreated strep through can transfer the bacteria to the digestive system thereby affecting the kidneys and leading to diarrhea. In addition, these bacteria destroy the intestines of the patient causing food poisoning such that any food that is eaten is vomited (Martin, 1999). This is a fatal condition since the disease at this stage can lead to death. In addition, treating this disease at this stage may involve surgery which can also be fatal. When the bacteria in the digestive system increase in number, they usually feed on the food eaten by the patient and therefore it is possible that the patient dies.
Another fatal effect of the bacteria is that it causes destruction of soft tissues and the muscles of the patient. This condition requires treatment within the shortest time possible since if this is not done, the condition can be fatal.
The other effect of untreated strep throat is that it can cause severe joint pain. This is cause by the swelling of the lymph nodes. This makes the movement of an individual difficult due to the inflammation of the joints. The other effects of the disease is that it can result to wounds and boils all over the body.
As can be observe, there are many fatal conditions that may arise due to failure to treat strep throat. It is important that the disease is treated at early stages using antibiotics since it is possible to treat the disease (Martin, 1999). However, several factors need to be observed when treating the disease. First, the doctor should make sure that the disease is strep throat and not sore throat before prescribing treatment. When the medication is given, it is important that the doctors directions are followed strictly since failure to follow these instructions can cause further complications of the disease.
Reference.
Martin, T. R., Shier, D., Butler, J., Lewis, R., & Hole, J. W. (1999). Hole's human anatomy and physiology / David Shier, Jackie Butler, Ricki Lewis: Laboratory manual. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
