An 8 year old girl is brought to your office by her mother, who tells you that the girl has been complaining of a sore throat for 3 days. Thinking that the girl was developing a cold, she kept her daughter home from school with the hope that she would get better. She has become worse in the past day, however, developing a fever of 103 degrees F, a headache, and complaining of abdominal pain. As you examine her throat, you see that in addition to red and enlarged tonsils, that there are white patches on them, and that there are swollen lymph glands on both sides of her neck.