A sore throat is an inflammation usually caused by a virus, bacterium, or allergen from outside the body, but in some cases may be the result of stomach acid that refluxes or flows backwards into the throat.

The inflammation in sore throat occurs between the back of your tongue and your voice box. When viruses are the cause of sore throat, you should soothe the symptoms and make your throat a less friendly place for the bugs. Sore throats caused by garden-variety cold and flu viruses are frequently accompanied by a stuffy or runny nose and possibly coughing. A sore throat caused by bacteria such as streptococcus pyogenes (known as strep throat bacterium) should be treated with antibiotics to reduce the risk of rheumatic fever and other complications. Also the signs of strep can be fever, bright red tonsils, a white or yellow coating on the tonsils, and swollen glands in the neck. With allergens, there is no infection associated therefore an allergen is harmless and causes your body to mistake it for something threatening. If it gets caught in your throat when you breathe, the immune system attacks it there, generating soreness and mucus.

Prevention

To prevent sore throat, you must wash your hands often. Most such infections are transmitted hand-to-hand infected to susceptible individuals. Children frequently exchange viruses at school and bring them home. To help keep your throat from hurting you should breathe through your nose as much as you can; if you are in heated rooms quite a bit, use a humidifier to make sure the air has moisture in it, and drink plenty of water. You should stay away from such irritants as dust, cigarette smoke, and cat or dog dander.

Symptoms

The symptoms of viral throat are usually treated with Acetaminophen or Aspirin with 6 ounces of water. Other methods such as using warm salt water, lemons, and taking medicated throat lozenges are other ways of treatment.

If you ever experience a mild sore throat and symptoms are ongoing for a period of one week you should contact your doctor.

This entry was filed under Diseases and Conditions.

Tags: cold and flu, runny nose