Officials at Henry Ford Medical Center Fairlane in Dearborn, Mich., thought they may have had faulty testing swabs for strep throat when rates were so high, but the swabs are accurate, radio station WWJ reported Oct. 23.
Strep throat rates are currently the highest Jennifer Stevenson, DO, director of the medical center's emergency department, has seen in her 25 years of practice.
"Strep has been the second-most common ailment bringing people to our emergency department for months now," she told the news outlet. "I expect we're going to see more and more."
A physician at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit also said it has seen high rates of strep since the spring.
In February and March, U.S. emergency department visits for strep throat reached a five-year high, according to CDC data. As of April, many states were continuing to see higher than usual numbers of invasive group A strep cases among pediatric patients and adults 65 and older, the agency said at the time. Infections caused by group A strep bacteria usually are mild, though on rare occasions the bacteria can get into the bloodstream and cause severe infections.
Henry Ford Medical Center Fairlane is part of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health.