Red Bumps On The Roof Of Mouth, Canker Sore In The Back Of Throat, Done Strep Test. Is It Contagious?

Posted on Fri, 7 Oct 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 Answered on

Sat, 9 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello my name is Cinthya. I am trying to inquire about my 4 year old son. You see earlier this week my older son (6 years old) was sick & developed some red bumps on the rof of his mouth & a canker sore looking thing in the back of his throat. We took him in to see the Dr. The Dr. took a throat culture to test for strep but came back negative. So he told us that it was just a sore throat & that it was not uncommon for the throat to get irritated like that with a cold virus. My concern is, ( my younger son the 4 year old) he has had a cold for about a week now & just yesterday stated with a fever (ranging between 101.1 to 102.4) & woke up crying from a nap complaining that his mouth hurt. When I checked his mouth i noticed that he had also developed a canker sore looking thing in the back of his throat, I wanna say near his uvula & the tiny red bumps on the roof of his mouth. Just like his older brother. Is this usually contagious & if so he is very uncomfortable with his fever & in pain when eating or drinking, is there anything i could do to ease the discomfort, maybe shorten the amount of time it takes to heal, & how long does it usually take before we see any improvement?

Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (44 minutes later)

Hello and thank you for submitting the question.

Your question is a very good one and I will work on providing you with some good information and recommendations regarding what is going on.

I believe the symptoms which your two children have experienced is related. I also believe that this was caused by a virus which can be very contagious. I do not believe that this is any type of XXXXXXX infection but it can't be uncomfortable as you are experiencing with your child right now.

Regarding the duration of the illness it is something that his immune system will eventually get a hold of and completely eradicate. In the meantime the challenges providing some degree of comfort and relief.

I would recommend a few things that you could try for him. The first thing would be a soft cough drop which could help ease some of the pain. Some cough drops such as Hall's or Chloraseptic or Cepacol can be very soothing. In addition I would recommend a children's generic Motrin. Motrin has an active ingredient called ibuprofen which I am sure you are familiar with. The ibuprofen can provide a significant degree of relief of the inflammation that is associated with the infection. It will also help the fever.

The last thing to pay attention to is good fluid hydration. I recommend that you supplement his diet with a good amount of Pedialyte or Gatorade which are very good hydrating agents. This illness will slowly improve over the next 48 to 72 hours.

I thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you found my response to be helpful and informative. If you have any additional concerns I would be happy to address them.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T