Throat Check

Throat Check is a simple and effective way for parents to get an immediate assessment of their child’s sore throat. This app helps parents understand when their child might have strep throat, which is difficult to distinguish from a sore throat caused by the common cold.

Use the LAM Child Health App to access personalized answers about your child’s sore throat, and make an informed decision on whether you should visit a physician for antibiotic treatment.

We created Throat Check for children age 3 to 11

Physicians may miss up to 50% of strep throat cases and identify up to 40% of non-GAS sore throat cases as requiring antibiotics. In fact, sore throat accounts for nearly 8 million antibiotic prescriptions each year, half of which may have been unnecessary.

Strep throat requires antibiotics and if not treated promptly can worsen very rapidly, so it’s important to make an accurate diagnosis.

How Throat Check Works

The gold standard in strep throat diagnosis is throat culture. However, it takes one to two days to get the results. Our patented technology captures a short video of the throat and instantly analyzes the video for abnormal patterns and detects features that may be concerning for strep throat. 

It’s a real-world solution that parents can use in the middle of the night when their child wakes up with fever and a sore throat, when they need answers and support the most. They can even add other details via our pediatric chatbot, LIA, which is just like speaking with a triage nurse.

Perform Throat Check whenever your child is not feeling well.

Find out whether your child has strep throat

Unlike colds, strep throat usually does not come with a cough, runny nose, or congestion. Symptoms tend to worsen quickly over 24–48 hours rather than building gradually.

Is it just the common cold?

Acute pharyngitis (sore throat) is a common clinical condition seen in children that is most often caused by virus infection (common cold) which typically resolves on its own. 

Symptoms that do not match the common cold

If your child has a sudden sore throat with fever and no cold symptoms, they may have strep throat. Strep throat is also characterized by fever (which you can verify using Vitals Check) and a child who is more tired or irritable than usual.

Strep throat symptoms you should not ignore

In addition to a sore throat and a fever, many children with strep throat will complain of headache or stomach pain, and some may have nausea or vomiting. When you look in the mouth, the throat may appear red and swollen, sometimes with white patches but this is not always the case. Swollen, tender lymph nodes in the neck are common. A fine, red rash that feels like sandpaper (scarlet fever) can also occur.

Take action as recommended by qualified health professionals

Throat Check will guide you to consult a doctor if necessary. Because strep throat is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes, it requires testing to confirm and antibiotics to treat.

Track your progress with simple monitoring

Once you have begun treatment, you can use the Medication Tracker to note when you administer each dose.

LAM Throat Check App Features

• Instant cough analysis
• Personalized guidance
• Recommended actions
• Communicate results with a local health care professional

Quick throat assessments to help parents know what’s wrong

Many throat conditions share similar symptoms, but analyzing the specific visual markers of the tonsils and throat wall can offer deeper insights into whether the cause is viral, bacterial, or environmental.

Viral Pharyngitis (Common Cold)

Most sore throats in children are caused by viruses, and will show generalized redness and swelling, often accompanied by other symptoms like a runny nose or cough.

Streptococcal Pharyngitis (Strep Throat)

Unlike a standard cold, Strep is a bacterial infection. Visual markers often include intensely red, swollen tonsils, sometimes accompanied by white patches or streaks of pus.

Post-Nasal Drip (Drainage Irritation)

This irritation occurs when mucus drips down the back of the throat, typically resulting in small, flesh-colored bumps on the back of the throat.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (Herpangina)

This viral infection can cause distinct, painful blisters or shallow ulcers in the back of the throat and on the roof of the mouth, before the tell-tale rash appears on the hands or feet.

Patented technology, tested by parents and doctors

• Reviewed by scientific experts
• Tested by independent groups of mothers and fathers
• Patented technology
• Proudly backed by clinical algorithms and a board of certified doctors and physicians