RE: Strep... I used to get strep regularly. However, it was not regularly enough to get my tonsils taken out.
I had a little bit of a scare put into me the last time I went in for a strep test. My doctor informed me that sometimes strep can be almost asymptomatic. It can hurt for the first day or two and then just sort of disappear. Sometimes, strep will just truly go away on its own, but other times it may end up lingering. The infection and the "bad stuff" are still in your system - even if your throat no longer hurts. Worse, the strep bacteria(?) can actually end up affecting and infecting your heart. -And that can go on for weeks at a time with no "real" symptoms.
So... I no longer "ignore" my sore throats.