Skin On Fingers Shedding After Bacterial Infection Of Throat (Strep Throat?)

PATB

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So I am wondering how serious this is. What happened was that a little over 1 month ago I had some upper respiratory infection. It lasted a couple days and then I felt fine. It was really bad at first, my entire face hurt it was like a sinus + throat infection. I assumed it was COVID-19, so a virus, and had gone away since within a week I felt totally fine.
Then 3-4 weeks later it I guess came back in the form of a sore throat, and at this point I figured it must be a bacterial infection. I forget exactly what reasoning I used but I called up an urgent care place for "I think I have strep throat" and I drove there. I had to sit in my car, they wouldn't let me in because of an upper respiratory issue (I guess they are high alert because of COVID). When they did come out the doctor looked down my throat with one of those devices and said yes it is definitely a bacterial infection of some sort. It was all very quick.

The nurse came back out and gave me a shot. I am not sure what the shot was, I guess an IV antibiotic. Then I was given two prescriptions: methylprednisolone and azithromycin. I was supposed to take it for a week (and I did) then I think one of them was supposed to continue working for a week after cessation.
I took them all pretty much exactly as I was instructed and then after the week was over I began withdrawing from xanax, which I had been taking for about 3 months and had run out. A week of feeling pretty bad because of that goes by (some nights I didn't sleep, general feeling of just not good) and now I am totally off that stuff. However it was a very stressful 1 week period in which I did not get good sleep or eat very well.

But I noticed something on top of that. The first day or two that I stopped taking the antibiotics my throat was scratchy again. I do smoke tobacco so I figured it might be related to that, and it went away. But there is something else:
The skin on the tip of my fingers began shedding. As far as I am aware I do not have any other symptoms. Apparently this can happen from "Group A streptococcus" and I am finding mixed claims, with some sources saying that there is no need for treatment and others listing very serious complications that could happen. I keep finding my way to "Scarlet fever" and it appears to be a minor symptom of that, which happens to some people after strep throat, but I do not have any of the other symptoms as far as I am aware. I also had chapped lips which I guess is related

Really, just shedding of the skin on my fingers which by itself (as a visible symptom) is exacerbated by my tendency to bite the dead skin off.

I am wondering how serious this is? And is everything I touched (basically my entire apartment) now contagious with strep (or some other) bacteria?
 

lvysaur

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I can't help you, but I can tell you that amoxicillin made the skin on my face shed. Mainly nose/lips area.
 
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PATB

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I did more research on it. It's a rather common occurrence after infection with a specific strep throat bacteria (group A).

"Skin peeling in the streptococcal infection occurs early in the acute stage or early in the second week in cases of scarlet fever, and in the other streptococcal infections especially the palms of the hands." Recurrent Peeling of Skin Following Post-Streptococcal Atypical Kawasaki Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review | Hassan | International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics

"This condition occurs in about 10% of children with strep throat and is known as scarlet fever. There may be peeling of the skin of the fingertips along with the rash." https://www.medicinenet.com/strep_throat_symptoms_and_signs/symptoms.htm

It started on the fingertips and continued on throughout the rest of my hands. I guess an entire layer of dead skin was removed. I had no other negative symptoms that I was aware of and the shedding of the skin was finished after about a month. If anyone else finds this thread in the future because they are suffering the same fate, I would say that by itself it's a benign condition but to closely watch out for other symptoms of "scarlet fever" (also called "scarlatina") - Scarlet fever - Wikipedia

I did not notice the "characteristic rash" or any other symptoms listed on it. If you do notice some other issues besides the peeling of the fingers / palm then maybe go to a doctor about it. There are 1,000 - 2,000 deaths from strep per year (from necrotizing fasciitis or streptococcal toxic shock syndrome) but this is out of about 3 million cases per year (mostly of children age 5-15), with 10-25,000 of these cases being of the extremely serious variety that can potentially lead to death, I'd suspect these individuals are primarily elderly or have otherwise serious comorbidities.

Apparently, a lot of people do not even need antiboitics and their strep throat clears itself. Vitamin C and D likely help. 3-4 weeks before I got this previous infection I had what I thought was Covid-19, but my guess now is that it was strep. I felt terrible for 2 days (extreme sinus pain, then sore throat) but I took large doses of Vitamin C and felt good as new after the 2-3 days. Had a bit of a lingering soreish throat but I am a tobacco smoker as well so that probably antagonized the sore throat. When it seemingly came back 3-4 weeks later I went to the doctor and they gave me the antibiotics (as I described in the OP).
 
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Do not take staphylococcus aureus lightly, this is flesh eating disease, and the organism is highly complex and has tremendous capacity for adaptation, if it takes a hold in the host, it changes its engagement completely, as if it were a different infective agent altogether, it can change gears through a complex genome and efficient sensing apparatus. I had infection on the backside of my hand due to induced dryness via prolonged high dosed oral retinol, and it only remitted through increased consumption of O6/O3 pufa.
 
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PATB

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Although no sample was taken or sent to a lab, the evidence suggests that what I had was group A Streptococcus (group A strep) - not staphylococcus aureus. This was also many months ago, I am completely fine now.
Do not take staphylococcus aureus lightly, this is flesh eating disease, and the organism is highly complex and has tremendous capacity for adaptation, if it takes a hold in the host, it changes its engagement completely, as if it were a different infective agent altogether, it can change gears through a complex genome and efficient sensing apparatus. I had infection on the backside of my hand due to induced dryness via prolonged high dosed oral retinol, and it only remitted through increased consumption of O6/O3 pufa.
 

hearsay

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Although no sample was taken or sent to a lab, the evidence suggests that what I had was group A Streptococcus (group A strep) - not staphylococcus aureus. This was also many months ago, I am completely fine now.

How did you clear it up?

edit: ahhh sorry I overlooked the antibiotic part
 

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