Lessons Learned from A Young Lady with a Bad Sore Throat

A 19-year-old Caucasian woman presented in mid-August 2018 to an Ohio hospital with a 10-day history of severe persistent sore throat. She had recently worked as a camp counselor at Martha’s Vineyard. She had two prior emergency department visits in Massachusetts for acute onset of sore throat, fever and abdominal pain. She presented with pharyngeal erythema which progressed to pharyngeal exudates. She was treated with Amoxicillin for bacterial pharyngitis. Despite completion of treatment, symptoms worsened.