This week, the providers of UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics across the Midstate are seeing the flu, strep throat and stomach bugs.

Pediatricians at Penn State Health are seeing allergies, colds and stomach bugs this week.

The CVS MinuteClinic in York reports viral upper respiratory infections, bronchitis and strep throat.

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Physicians Roseville Pediatrics reports a lot of strep throat this week. They’re also seeing colds and ear infections.

They saw fewer cases of the stomach bug, but say it is still going around. They also saw both bacterial and viral pink eye.

Dr. Joan Thode offered the following advice about strep:

“The typical “trifecta” of strep syndrome is headache, sore throat, and belly pain or nausea, and often vomiting. Having two of the three symptoms raises our concern for possible strep. Sometimes the two symptoms portrayed are headache and belly pain; thus, you can have strep throat without a sore throat! Strep does not cause diarrhea.

While strep does not cause runny nose or congestion, this season we have been seeing patients with overlapping viral colds and strep throat; two illnesses at one time. In other seasons, this was rarely the case, but with the difference in illness variety and frequency during the past few years of the pandemic, there’s a relative lack of exposure-related antibody immunity, and we’ve seen an increase in illnesses as a result. The good news, though, is that our kids’ immune systems are capable of quickly fighting off an illness before overwhelming body-wide sickness occurs.

The frequency of illness is less important for kids than the length of time it takes to get over the illness. A typical cold for a toddler or young kid involves three to four days of acute illness, followed by a week of slowly resolving cough from the resultant postnasal drainage. Prolonged fevers beyond five consecutive days, or a prolonged cough more than two weeks after the acute viral illness resolves should be evaluated by a medical provider.”