Stacy and Strep

In my Winter term of my sophomore class at GCE, my STEAM course was Disease. For this course, we examined how diseases affect the body. For the Action Project, we interviewed a person we know that has a certain disease. We then created a patient profile and researched the disease to find out more information. I really enjoyed this project because of my connection to the disease I chose. I researched strep throat and I've had this disease multiple times. However, I've never really known the cause and how exactly it affects the body. I had a hard time finding multiple body systems thus drawing my illustration at first was hard, but after doing more research it was easy to make the connections to the other systems. 

Stacy

Stacy is a 15 year old student living in Chicago. She often contracts strep throat (or a streptococcal infection) and has to go see a doctor. Usually, her first symptom is a sore throat. She would often wake up and feel and intense pain in the back of her mouth. Also, she would feel very nauseous and sometimes vomit. Lastly, she would feel very tired and weak.

It is possible to have these symptoms and not have strep. However, because of her history of the disease, whenever she has these symptoms, she will go straight to the doctor to get tested. The most common way to test a patient for strep is to do a throat culture. To do this, a doctor swabs the back of the patient's throat to get a sample of the bacteria and then sends this to a lab. Many people, including Stacy, find this uncomfortable because it often will cause you to gag. The doctor test this swab for for the streptococcal bacteria and if it's positive, Stacy is provided with antibiotics to take over a certain period of time. The amount of time varies but she is commonly instructed to take the medication until she runs out. Usually, Stacy is told that after taking the medication for 24 hours, she won't be contagious and will then be allowed to attend school. However, there is a rare occasion where if the swab comes back negative, the doctor sends it to a lab for a "double check" and the lab will rarely come back and say it is positive. Thankfully this rare occurrence has never actually happened to Stacy.

Other than taking antibiotics for the disease, Stacy does a few things to help suppress the symptoms until she feels better. For her throat, Stacy usually takes pain relievers and drinks hot tea. She says that tea with honey and lemon works the best. For the nausea, Stacy says that "lying down and trying to very slowly sip hot broth can help you not want to vomit as much. But, if you move around too much or eat something too fast it can easily upset your stomach." Lastly, for her tired/weak feelings, just sleeping works the best. Sleep can be the best way to help your body fight off a disease or illness.

This disease usually affects Stacy in a very negative way. It causes her to have to be isolated until it isn't contagious any more which means she has to miss school. This sounds not so bad at first but when  it happens very often it can be no so fun to be behind on school work. Also, it makes Stacy have to stay inside and in bed with a very bad pain in her throat and the constant feeling of wanting to vomit. Because of all these things, Stacy has a very negative connotation with this disease and hopes to avoid it as much as possible.


Strep Throat

Strep throat is a bacterial infection in the tonsils and throat that causes inflammation and pain in the surrounding area. Strep is highly contagious. It can spread through airborne droplets when someone coughs or sneezes or through shared foods or drinks. You can also pick up the bacteria from a doorknob or other surface and transfer them to your nose, mouth, or eyes. Some risk factors are young age because this occurs most often in children and time of year. Strep is most commonly contracted in the spring and fall because the temperature allows bacteria to thrive and easily transfer between people. The types of people that are most susceptible are going to be social people. Since the major way to get this disease is from other people, communal locations such as public transit, offices, schools, etc. are going to be the most likely places to catch strep. Since Stacy is almost always in these public places, this is why she contracts this disease do often.

LS (2016), Full Body Sketch 

The most obvious place the infection affects is the throat, which is a part of the respiratory system and digestive system. The infection causes large amounts of inflation and pain in the back of the throat.

The tonsils also get infected and swell. The tonsils are a part of the lymphatic system. 

If untreated, a streptococcal infection can lead to many complication like inflammation of the kidneys and Rheumatic fever. The kidneys are a part of the urinary system and Rheumatic fever mainly affects the heart which is a part of the circulatory system.

References:
Mayo Clinic Staff. "Strep Throat." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education 
        and Research, 16 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. link