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When Is Tonsillitis An Emergency?
If you have tonsillitis, seek urgent medical care if symptoms last longer than 4 days, or if you're having trouble breathing, eating, drinking, or opening your mouth.
Tonsillitis is an infection that causes the tonsils to become inflamed. Both viruses and bacteria can cause it, but viral tonsillitis is more common.
Anyone can get tonsillitis. Most people who develop the condition are young adults, teenagers, and children. Typically, tonsillitis causes symptoms such as:
These symptoms are generally mild. You can usually manage them at home with rest and over-the-counter (OTC) treatments.
When a tonsillitis infection becomes severe, symptoms will typically also be severe, making it important to seek urgent medical care.
Tonsillitis symptoms often resolve in a few days. You normally don't need any specific treatments.
However, tonsillitis can become a severe infection. When this happens, it's important to seek medical attention right away.
Symptoms that indicate that tonsillitis needs urgent medical attention include:
Young children might not be able to explain these symptoms as they experience them. Instead, you might notice that a child:
If your child, or a child you're caring for, is experiencing these symptoms, take them to a doctor as soon as possible.
Complications of tonsillitis happen when the infection spreads to other parts of the body. Complications typically only occur when bacteria cause tonsillitis.
Possible complications of severe tonsillitis include:
The progression of severe tonsillitis to other infections, such as rheumatic or scarlet fever, is rare and associated with strep throat. Progression is most likely to occur if strep throat is not treated.
Several infections can cause sore throats and fever that may seem like tonsillitis. For instance, it can be very difficult to tell on your own whether you have strep throat or tonsillitis. However, sometimes your symptoms can help point you in the right direction.
Strep throat is less likely to cause a cough or leave the tonsils red and swollen. If you're coughing frequently and you can see redness and swelling when you look at your tonsils in a mirror, there's a good chance you have tonsillitis and not strep.
Strep throat can occasionally cause a cough and tonsil swelling and redness. Looking for these symptoms isn't a guaranteed method, but it can be a good way to evaluate your symptoms at home. You can read more about the symptoms of strep throat in this article.
Other conditions that can be mistaken for tonsillitis include:
Tonsillitis is a common infection that causes inflammation in the tonsils. Typically, you can manage tonsillitis at home with rest and OTC medications.
However, it's possible for tonsillitis to become a more severe infection. When this happens, symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, and coughing last for more than 4 days. They can make activities such as eating, drinking, and even breathing difficult.
Without treatment, severe tonsillitis can lead to the infection spreading. This can cause complications such as an abscess or a middle ear infection. Seeking treatment can help prevent these complications.
Why Is One Side Of My Throat Sore?
A sore throat is a common symptom of many conditions. However, some causes, such as swollen lymph nodes and direct injury, may only affect one side of the throat.
There are many possible reasons for one side of the throat feeling sore, and it may not always be clear what the root cause is.
In this article, we look at possible causes of a sore throat on one side. We also discuss when to see a doctor.
The body's lymph nodes act as filters, helping to identify and trap germs, such as viruses and bacteria before they can infect other areas. As they do this, the lymph nodes may swell up and become sore.
The lymph nodes closest to the throat are on either side of the neck. Sometimes only one node in the area is sore, which can cause a sore throat on one side.
Some conditions that may lead to swollen lymph nodes include:
Learn more about swollen lymph nodes here.
During nasal congestion, mucus and fluid drain down the back of the throat. This is known as postnasal drip. Continual drainage can irritate the throat, leading to a feeling of soreness or scratchiness.
This drainage may cause irritation and soreness in a specific part of throat and may feel like one side is raw and inflamed.
Tonsillitis describes inflammation of one or more tonsil. The tonsils are at the back of the throat, and a virus or bacterium usually causes the infection and inflammation.
An infection in just one tonsil can cause pain on one side. It may also cause a fever, trouble swallowing, and noisy breathing.
An abscess is a contained, pus-filled lump within the tissue. A bacterial infection usually causes it.
A peritonsillar abscess forms in the tissues near the tonsils. It may cause intense pain on one side of the throat. It may also cause fever, swollen lymph nodes, and trouble swallowing.
A person with a peritonsillar abscess requires urgent medical care. In severe cases, it can interfere with breathing.
Many things can injure the back of the mouth or throat, including:
If one side of the throat is sore from scraping or burning, gargling with warm salt water may help to soothe symptoms.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition that causes the stomach's contents, including stomach acid, to back up into the food pipe and throat.
GERD may be worse at night and when lying down. If stomach acid backs up when a person is lying on their side, it may lead to soreness on one side of the throat.
If GERD goes untreated for too long, it can damage the food pipe and throat.
Learn more about acid reflux at night here.
As the name implies, this viral illness usually causes sores to form on the hands, feet, and mouth. Sores can develop in the back of the mouth, near the sides of the throat, and one side may be more affected than the other.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease usually occurs in children under 5 years of age, but it can also spread to older children and adults.
Learn more about hand, foot, and mouth disease here.
In adults, other types of sores, such as aphthous ulcers, are more common and can often cause one-sided symptoms.
Overusing or misusing the voice can lead to lesions or nodules on the vocal cords. A lesion may form on one side, causing one area of the throat to be sore. However, not all people who damage the vocal folds will experience pain.
A person with a vocal cord lesion will usually notice a change in their voice, such as hoarseness.
These types of lesions are usually treatable. Resting the voice and vocal therapy are typically used to correct vocal cord lesions. In some cases, lesions will require surgery.
While they are among the least common causes of a sore throat, cancer can affect the throat and surrounding areas. They may be benign or cancerous.
A tumor can cause soreness on one side of the throat. It may occur on the tonsils, in the back of the throat or tongue or in the larynx, which is commonly known as the voice box.
Usually, a tumor will also lead to symptoms that do not occur with common infections and illnesses, such as blood in the saliva and unexplained weight loss.
Learn more aout throat cancer here.
If a throat is sore on one side, the cause is usually a minor viral infection, such as the common cold. However, it is important to see a doctor if the following symptoms also appear:
Frequently asked questions
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Below are frequently asked questions relating to soreness in one side of the throat.
Why is only one side of my throat sore?There are several causes of soreness in one side of the throat, including:
A sore throat is a known early symptom of a COVID-19 infection. This may be localized in specific regions of the throat or more widespread.
How long does a sore throat on one side last?The duration of throat soreness will depend on its cause. For example, soreness due to acid reflux may disappear within minutes or hours, whereas discomfort from infections, scarring, or tumors will typically take much longer.
How do you soothe one side of your throat?Treatment for soreness on one side of the throat will depend on its cause. In cases of injury, painkillers and rest are often suitable, whereas bacterial infections may require antibiotics. However, other more severe causes may require medical interventions.
There are many reasons why a person may feel soreness in only one side of their throat. Direct injury to a specific area, localized infections, and swollen lymph nodes may all cause irritation and discomfort on one side of the throat but not the other.
Treatment for a sore throat will depend on the cause. It is important to seek medical assistance if throat pain becomes unbearable or persists for several days.
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Is A Sore Throat An Early Symptom Of The Coronavirus?
Getty Is a sore throat an early symptom of coronavirus?
With the COVID-19 coronavirus fundamentally altering life around the world, many people are wondering whether their symptoms match coronavirus. Among those questions: Is a sore throat an early symptom of coronavirus?
The answer: It can be, but it's not the most common symptom (you can see a breakdown later in this article). Coronavirus diagnosis can be tricky because the symptoms are, in many cases, very similar to the flu or a common cold. In addition, it's hard to get testing in many jurisdictions even if you've traveled overseas. There's not a known cure for coronavirus anyway, so if you think you have it, consult with your primary care doctor. Many doctors are advising people to try to manage their symptoms at home if possible. Boost your immunity. Drink a lot of fluids. Rest. However, again: Consult your own doctor for medical advice. Most people who get coronavirus will recover, but survivors have described a very vicious battle with a flu-like illness.
Let's tease out how common a sore throat is though in studies of coronavirus, with the recognition that people's bodies handle the virus different ways. Not everyone has the same symptoms at the same stages.
"The most common symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, are fever, cough and shortness of breath," according to John Hopkins Medicine. "Some patients also have body aches, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. If you have a sore throat and think you have been exposed to the new coronavirus, contact a health care provider by phone and discuss your risk."
Here's what you need to know:
First of all, just because you have a sore throat doesn't mean you have coronavirus. You might have the flu, a common cold, or something like strep throat. Your doctor is better equipped to tell you that (don't take medical advice over the Internet!) But credible research studies and governmental sites have outlined the common symptoms for coronavirus. Sore throat is among them. Also be aware that the virus has an incubation stage (symptoms appear between 2-14 days) and the symptoms themselves can take time to worsen (even 8 days or more). However, again, most people recover from COVID-19.
The article Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. That article noted, "During the first 2 months of the current outbreak, Covid-19 spread rapidly throughout China and caused varying degrees of illness. Patients often presented without fever, and many did not have abnormal radiologic findings." Thus, although fever is often cited as a leading indicator of coronavirus, an absence of a fever does not mean that you don't have it, either.
However, this study did find that the most common coronavirus symptoms were fever and cough.
"The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7). The median age of the patients was 47 years (interquartile range, 35 to 58); 0.9% of the patients were younger than 15 years of age. A total of 41.9% were female. Fever was present in 43.8% of the patients on admission but developed in 88.7% during hospitalization," the researchers reported. "The second most common symptom was cough (67.8%); nausea or vomiting (5.0%) and diarrhea (3.8%) were uncommon. Among the overall population, 23.7% had at least one coexisting illness (e.G., hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)."
The study found that 13.9 percent of patients had a sore throat. Here's the list of symptoms with percentages found in that research study:
Emerging 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Pneumonia is another research study that broke down the percentages of symptoms in Chinese patients with the virus.
That study of coronavirus patients found that only 6 percent had a sore throat. The most common symptom was fever, which was reported by 96 percent of patients, following by a cough (47 percent), a little phlegm (20 percent), myalgia or fatigue (31 percent), mild headache and dizziness (16 percent), mild dyspnea or chest paint (14 percent), loss of appetite (18 percent), diarrhea (10 percent), stuffy or runny nose (4 percent) and nausea and vomiting, 6 percent.
Here's the symptom chart from that study:
According to Harvard Medical School, "some people infected with the virus have no symptoms. When the virus does cause symptoms, common ones include low-grade fever, body aches, coughing, nasal congestion, and sore throat. However, COVID-19 can occasionally cause more severe symptoms like high fever, severe cough, and shortness of breath, which often indicates pneumonia."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronavirus symptoms "may appear 2-14 days after exposure (based on the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses)." The site lists the most common symptoms as:
FeverCoughShortness of breath
According to Al-Jazeera, some people get a sore throat with coronavirus because of how the virus typically enters the body; "Once you have breathed it in, the virus quickly travels to the back of your throat and nose…This destruction of cells in your nose and throat leads to the dry cough and sore throat."
The Australian government explains, "If you develop symptoms (fever, a cough, sore throat, tiredness or shortness of breath) within 14 days of leaving country or region that is at higher risk for COVID-19, or within 14 days of last contact of a confirmed case, you should arrange to see your doctor for urgent assessment."
In general, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, coronaviruses (of which there are many), can cause these symptoms:
runny noseheadachecoughsore throatfever
Loss of taste and smell and red rimmed eyes have also emerged as possibly symptoms of COVID 19.
Sometimes the virus leads to pneumonia, which is when the virus gets more serious and can require hospitalization.
According to Stat News, one of the earlier cases of coronavirus involved a man in Germany. On January 24, he "developed a sore throat, chills, and muscle soreness, with a fever and cough arriving the following day." By January 27 he was better. He tested positive for coronavirus.
How do I know if I have COVID-19 or the regular flu? Harvard Medical School advises: "COVID-19 often causes symptoms similar to those a person with a bad cold or the flu would experience. And like the flu, the symptoms can progress and become life-threatening. Your doctor is more likely to suspect coronavirus if: you have respiratory symptoms and you recently traveled to countries with ongoing community spread of the COVID-19 virus, including China, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, or you have been exposed to someone suspected of having COVID-19, or there has been community spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 in your area.
What is the incubation period? "Because this coronavirus has just been discovered, the time from exposure to symptom onset (known as the incubation period) for most people has yet to be determined. Based on current information, symptoms could appear as soon as three days after exposure to as long as 13 days later. Recently published research found that on average, the incubation period is about five days," says Harvard.
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