What are the strep vs other sore throat symptoms?

Positive Strep Test: Strep throat usually occurs rapidly with severe achiness, swollen tonsils, puss on the tonsils, swollen lymph nodes in the neck and fevers < 101. There is usually no runny nose, congestion, cough, nausea or vomiting. Sometimes the patient's throat is so sore they can almost not swallow. A regular sore throat is milder with runny nose, cough, lower fever and less achiness. A strep test/culture is +.

Throat culture strep: Strep throat is characterized by intensely sore multiple circular or ovoid ulcerations of the lining of the throat and/or tonsils that may or may not coalesce into larger erosive ulcerations. Swallowing food, liquids and even saliva is excruciatingly painful. Because it is a bacterial infection is is almost always accompanied by a fever greater than 101 degrees, malaise and loss of appetite.