Final answer:
The symptoms of sore throat, fever, fatigue, adenopathy, and splenomegaly in a teenager suggest possible strep throat or infectious mononucleosis. A Sure-Vue Mono Test is useful for diagnosis. Antibiotics like ampicillin or amoxicillin are used to treat strep throat but can cause a rash if the cause is mononucleosis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The clinical scenario presents a teenager with symptoms of a sore throat, fever, fatigue, generalized adenopathy, and splenomegaly, specifically with swelling of the anterior and posterior cervical nodes. When encountering such symptoms, healthcare professionals usually consider infectious mononucleosis, often caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and streptococcal infection such as strep throat as part of the differential diagnosis. A Sure-Vue Mono Test is suggested to help in the diagnostic process.
If the patient is diagnosed with strep throat and treated with ampicillin or amoxicillin, it would typically lead to a resolution of symptoms, but in the case of infectious mononucleosis, administration of these antibiotics can cause a rash in many patients. It is important to distinguish between these conditions before initiating treatment with antibiotics. Furthermore, antibiotic resistance is a concern in such treatments, although S. pyogenes is generally still susceptible to ß-lactam antibiotics like penicillin and amoxicillin.
Untreated strep infections can lead to serious sequelae, such as acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Thus, confirming the causative agent for the sore throat is crucial to prevent complications and determine the appropriate treatment.