Causes Symptom And Treatment Of Viral Pharyngitis And Strep Throat - Sore Throat Treatment
Viral pharyngitis and strep throat are 2 common throat infection.Both of them has very similar kinds of symptoms which makes it difficult to differentiate between them.Viral pharyngitis is caused by the Virus where strep throat is the cause of bacterial infection.
Causes and symptom of Viral pharyngitis:
The cause of viral pharyngitis is the infection of a virus.Some of the Virus which cause Viral pharyngitis are , Influenza, Infectious mononucleosis, Herpes simplex virus , common cold virus.Viral pharyngitis are contagious and most of them time a person gets infected from another person.
symptom: The symptom of Viral pharyngitis is almost same with the symptom of strep throat.Usually the symptoms are :
1.
2.Red swollen tonsil:
3.swollen Lymph node in the neck
4.Difficulty in swallowing
5.High Fever
Above listed 5 symptoms are most common symptom to identify viral pharyngitis.Other symptom may appear in complicated cases
Treatment: Generally no treatment is required for an adult patient with viral pharyngitis.For young people doctors usually prescribes medicine for controlling the fever and pain.For an adult a lot of rest is necessary.Drink lots of water so that your body does not get dehydrated.Our natural immune system can fight with the virus and recovers within 7 to 10 days.(antibiotics doesn't help when you have viral pharyngitis).Mix small amount of salt in the warm water and Gargle for couple of times to get rid of the pain.
Causes and symptom of Strep throat (streptococcal pharyngitis) :
Strep throat is caused by different kinds bacterial infection .Streptococcus bacteria is the main reason for strep infection.Strep infection is contagious and generally transmit from one person to another though hand contacts , kissing etc.
Symptom of strep infection : The most common symptom of strep throat are :
1.Swollen tonsil and white spot in the tonsil.If you have viral pharyngitis usually there is no white spot available in your tonsil .
2.White coated tongue
3.Pain while swallowing
4.Fever lower than 100 degree Fahrenheit
5.Headache or nausea in some cases
As it is difficult to differentiate between strep and viral pharyngitis doctors usually take a strep test to identify whether the infection is related to strep or not.If the test is negative it is assumed to have a viral pharyngitis.
Treatment: Antibiotics are necessary to treat strep throat quickly and avoid any kind of infection.It is possible to cure without any antibiotics but that may take long time .Doctor's prescribed antibiotics course should be followed .You will also need to gargle 3-4 times a day with warm salt mixed water.Do not eat anything acidic like orange juice , lemon juice.To get rid of the pain, drink hot tea by mixing hoey with it.
Hope the article will help you to get rid of your sore throat.