Chances are you, like many parents, have had the stressful job of taking care of a sick kid. You wish you knew what they had, how to treat it, and mostly how to get your child feeling back to their old self. While you might not be able to do that on your own, our team at Peekaboo Pediatrics is here to come alongside you and offer in-office testing for some of the most common illnesses we treat.
The faster you get results, the faster your child can be treated and get back to feeling healthy.
Rapid Strep
The most common group to be infected with strep throat is children aged 5-15. The rapid strep test is performed in the office by taking a swab of your child’s throat and culturing it in office. This test tells us whether the bacteria that causes strep throat is present. It’s particularly important to determine whether a sore throat is caused by this bacteria because about 75% of sore throats are caused by viruses. Viral infections do not respond to treatment with anitibiotics, so these results help us determine what course of treatment would be best for your child.
Influenza
Rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) are used in the office to determine whether a child has influenza, the virus that causes the dreaded flu. The results are usually available within a few minutes and can help us determing not only how to treat your child, but also whether an outbreak is occurring in the area. It is important that you be seen within 4 days or less of developing flu-like symptoms, as that is when the test is most accurate.
RSV screening
RSV – respiratory syncytial virus, is an extremely common virus that is particularly harmful to high-risk groups like premature infants and children with lung and heart defects. While most recover from this virus, more vulnerable individuals can suffer from pneumonia and bronchiolitis (inflammation of small airways of the lung) beyond the coughing, wheezing, and fever. The RSV test constists of swabbing the patients nose and is then run in our office. Results are back within just a few minutes and help us determine how best to treat your child.