GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Local healthcare professionals urge parents to be mindful of Strep Throat. Pediatric Professor Gregory DeMuri says the state is seeing more people suffering from the illness.  

“Strep throat cases have just exploded since October, really,” said DeMuri from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Strep throat cases are on the rise in Wisconsin. DeMuri says cases doubled compared to this time last year. 

“We’ve noticed about twice as many strep throat cases that we’ve ever seen in the past, my wife got it last week, as a matter of fact, and she was just absolutely miserable,” explained DeMuri.  

Healthcare professionals are not sure what is causing the surge in infection. Demuri says multiple theories of why are being discussed throughout the healthcare industry. 

“Nobody really knows why the number of cases has increased with strep throat there are a couple of theories one is that there is a new strand of strep that has emerged that seems to be aggressive, that hasn’t been proven yet,” said DeMuri. 

DeMuri says social distancing may have increased the strength of the illness. 

“The second theory is when we isolated ourselves in quarantine for covid that children weren’t exposed to strep, so they are more suspectable to getting a new infection,” stated DeMuri.  

Treating the illness with over-the-counter medication and receiving a test for the infection is vital to remain healthy. 

“The commonsense things like staying hydrated, you can take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain, most important thing though is that if you’re concerned, you should get to a doctor and get a strep test done,” said DeMuri. 

Strep throat tests are available from a doctor and a few local pharmacies.