Strep throat catchy from human to rats?

Question
I have read on various sites that if a person has strep throat, the rat can catch it.  I am in a panic. Is this true?
My son has it now and he was diagnosed by a strep culture on Tuesday. He was around the rats on Tuesday and Wed. and I read on a few sites its catchy although none of them are endorsed by a vet or have the background you have.
thoughts on this?  I have four males that I am worried about now!  Helpppppppppp!

Answer
Hi Bethany

Oh no, the RUMOR is still out there huh?!
That is all it is, too, is a rumor started by someone uneducated about the various strains of Streptococcus and whoever is responsible for this huge misconception has put a huge panic in the world of domestic rats.

Strep throats in humans is caused by Group A Streptococci or Streptococcus pyogenes. This organism cannot affect our rats and cause respiratory infection in them in any way!
There is another species of Streptococcus which is the very dangerous strep pneumoniae can cause respiratory infections and dangerous pneumonia in our rats. This is NOT the same strain of strep that humans get with strep throat. Again, someone uneducated decided they thought they knew something that could possibly spare a rats life, but instead they have managed to spread a huge misconception in the fancy rat world and unfortunately, some websites still continue to stand by this information. Luckily, the more reputable sites that are endorsed by Veterinarians, like my site, state the the truth and in turn hopefully will put alot of minds at ease and finally stop the spread of this very useless rumor.

Hope this helps!