Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. streptococcus, a form of bacterium; esp. in combs. strep throat, strep infection.

1925		S. Lewis Arrowsmith 259: Can’t we just treat the fellow that has the strep infection.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 24 Oct. [synd. col.] Hank Greenberg [...] is at his Bronx home, with 104 temp., plus two nurses. Strep.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 414: All of those symptoms could have been caused by strep.
1946		K. Fearing Big Clock (2002) 125: You’ve got a strep throat.
1957		Kerouac letter Aug. in Charters II (1999) 59: Turns out I had something like strep infection.
1997		Paducah Sun (KY) 1 Jan. 36/2: Strep throat affects up to 5 million each year [...] About 30 to 40 percent will test positive on a throat culture for strep.
2007		Anniston Star (AL) 27 Dec. 28/3: Most of the time, strep will give ou a sore throat, headache, stomachache and feveer.
2019		Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghampton, NY) 3 Apr. A5/4: Strep and Staph infections? Vinegar is a powerful antiseptic.

2. streptomycin, an antibiotic orig. used to combat tuberculosis, but now usu. used in combination with other drugs because of its toxicity.

1959		J. Braine Vodi 85: They’d tried strep. and P.A.S.
1961		C. Cockburn View from West 6: Hallucinated myself by the effects of streptomycin – we soon all got very matey with this potent drug and called it strep .