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Sore throat is a condition in which you feel pain, discomfort, or burning sensation inside your throat. Which structure affected? There are many external and internal structures in the throat region. There are skin, airway, digestive tract, cartilages, lymph nodes, soft tissues, and others. The structure which commonly affected if you are suffering a sore throat is the tonsil. Enlarged or swollen tonsils are often due to infection. This condition is also known as tonsillitis. Tonsillitis is usually accompanied by pharynx infection. This is frequently called tonsillopharyngitis. Enlarged tonsils will not cause weight gain by any means. Tonsillitis treatment is available to help you free from sore throat.
Streptococcus infection is the common cause of tonsillitis or tonsillopharyngitis in any age group despite their gender. Tonsillopharingitis can also be caused by other bacteria, viruses, and non-infectious causes. The example of viruses are:
- Adenovirus
- Rhinovirus
- Coronavirus
Other bacteria are:
- Group C and G streptococcus
- Arcanobacterium haemolyticum
- Fusobacterium necrophorum
Other non-infectious causes can also cause enlarged and swollen tonsils. The causes are:
- Allergic rhinitis
- Sinusitis
- Smoking
- Exposure to dry air
- Trauma
- Vocal strain
Before a treatment can be started, history taking, physical examination, and investigations are needed to formulate a diagnosis. History taking and physical examination are important for symptom analysis and signs identification. The clinical features of tonsillitis are:
- Fever
- Pus from tonsils
- Neck lymph node swelling
- Skin rash
- Sore throat
- Malaise
- Loss of appetite
- Cough
- Changes in voice or hoarseness of voice
- Watery nose
- Weight loss
Severe tonsillitis may result in upper airway obstruction. The features of upper airway obstruction are:
- ‘Hot potato’ voice
- Hoarseness of voice
- Drooling of saliva
- Shortness of breath
- Rapid breathing
- Noisy breathing
Upper airway obstruction which is caused by severe tonsillitis requires urgent management and intervention. Investigations are not needed if clinically, the doctor is very sure that your condition is due to viral infection. However, if you are suspected to have a bacterial infection, investigations are needed. The investigations are:
- Sensitive rapid antigen test (RADT)
- Throat swab for culture
- Blood test
After a diagnosis of tonsillitis is confirmed, a treatment plan can be started. Antibiotic is always given for this condition. The treatment goals with the use of antibiotics are:
- Symptoms severity and duration reduction
- Prevention of acute complications
- Prevention of delayed complications
- Prevention of spread to other individuals
The treatment of choice for tonsillitis due to streptococcus infection is penicillin. Penicillin is a very good antibiotic in treating this condition. However, if the patient is allergic to penicillin or penicillin is not available, other antibiotics can be used. The antibiotics are:
- Cephalosporins
- Clindamycin
- Macrolides
Supportive treatment is also important to achieve a cure. The supportive treatments are:
- Rest
- Drink a lot of plain and clean water
- Consume soft food
- Avoid respiratory irritants
- Anti-fever medication and painkillers
- Avoid oily food
Oily and fatty foods are to be avoided. Fatty and oily food is difficult for your body to digest. Due to this difficulty, your immune system will be suppressed by your body. Suppression of the immune system will put you at risk to develop tonsillitis or worsen your condition if you are suffering one.
The complications of enlarged tonsils due to infection are:
- Middle ear infection
- Pus formation
- Other opportunistic infections
- Acute rheumatic fever
Tonsillitis treatment can effectively help you recover from tonsillitis, tonsillopharyngitis, or swollen tonsils.
