It’s quite a common process known as a superinfection or secondary infection. Typically a bacterial infection occurs on top of a viral one. The mechanism in something like a cold is that the virus causes congestion, increased mucus secretions, and just generally a bunch of gunk which doesn’t get cleared very well. That acts as a nice breeding ground for bacteria which can now gain a foothold.

Typically that bacteria is just from your own skin and is normally harmless when kept in check by the other skin bacteria around it, but it gets a new advantage from the previous viral illness and grows unchecked.

Everything you listed is a virus and cannot be cured by antibiotics. In fact, there is no cure for the common cold(rhinovirus).

If you don’t mind my asking, what did they prescribe to her? It may be coincidental that she felt better shortly after being given a medication as colds don’t typically last more than a week before you start to feel better on your own.

Strep isn't viral. True strep is caused by streptococcus bacterium. That's how it got it's name strep, short for streptococcus. There are a bunch of ways to have an irritated throat that aren't strep though.

Strep is NOT viral.

It's called "strep" because it's caused by the Streptococcus bacteria.

Oops. I guess a doctor lied to me

The common cold is exclusively caused by viruses. Antibiotics do not help fight it at all, your daughter's recovery was probably all her own strength :)

Antibiotics are frequently misunderstood and misused, so it's hard for us to know exactly what the logic was, short of telepathic power. Occasionally, antibiotics will be prescribed for cold and flu patients if the doctor is worried about secondary infections like bacterial pneumonia taking advantage of the weakened body in the meantime. There's also a lot of unfortunate cases where dodgy doctors prescribe them as placebo to basically just morale boost patients.

Seems like it.

The symptoms of a viral infection and a bacterial infection are usually pretty similar so while a hospital or medical facility may think it’s the “common cold” aka viral infection (in the us at least) they will also prescribe antibiotics “just in case” because it’s always better to treat bacterial infections sooner than later.

A doctor once diagnosed me with strep and said it was likely viral as well. Prescribed a z-pack (antibiotics) anyway, and the antibiotics didn’t seem to help much; I was still sick over a week. I’m guessing now that “viral strep” is just what the doctors are calling a severe sore throat that presents with similar symptoms to strep but didn’t/couldn’t a culture to confirm the streptococcus bacteria

Having a bit of faith in the doctors involved, it was probably a secondary infection

good explanation! Thank you!

That's plausible, although I'd say it would be very careless of a doctor to use that terminology. I get not wanting to use the phrase "severe sore throat" which sounds a bit childish, but there are perfectly good alternatives like pharyngitis (or tonsillitis, as the case may be), which describe the symptoms rather than the cause (strep throat is one cause of pharyngitis, but more commonly it the cause is a viral infection, which can still be very nasty). Or just "inflammation of the throat" if you prefer plain English over Latin & Greek.