Strep throat? Don't toss your toothbrush just yet!

It has long been a well known fact that failure to dispose of your toothbrush after the flu, a cold or strep throat could result in reinfection.  According to a new study, that might not be the case anymore, at least not for strep throat.

A recent study was conducted using 50 people.  14 were children with strep throat diagnosis, 13 were children with sore throats, not diagnosed with strep, and 27 were healthy people ranging in age from 2 to 20.  All were given new toothbrushes and asked to brush for one minute.  All toothbrushes were collected and sent to a lab to be tested for growth of group A Streptococcus, the virus that causes strep throat.  Out of all the brushes tested, only one came back positive for strep, and it was from a patient without strep throat.

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