Sore throat (treatment)

- Most common (more than 90%) type of sore throat is viral pharyngitis. (virus causing inflammation to the throat/viral sore throat)

- How do you know if you’ve got a viral or bacterial sore throat?

o In bacterial sore throat, these are the signs & symptoms. (These suggest the presence of bacterial infection, and are not diagnostic in nature.)

§ Absence of cough

§ Tender cervical lymph nodes (painful lumps around the neck region upon pressing)

§ Enlarged tonsil with exudates

§ High grade fever ( more than 38⁰C )

o In viral sore throat, the symptoms are the direct opposite of the above, namely:

§ Presence of cough

§ Non-tender cervical lymph nodes

§ No enlarged tonsils

§ Low grade fever (<38⁰c)

- However, please note that with the presence of ALL 4 of the above signs and symptoms for bacterial sore throat, the chances of ACTUALLY having a bacterial sore throat is only about 50%(52.8%) according to research. (This is as good as tossing a coin to determine heads or tails. J) This percentage decreases with reduce in the number of signs and symptoms. Therefore, if you’ve only have 1 symptom among the 4 (mentioned above), the chances are slightly below 10% that you’ve got a bacterial infection.

- Other clues to help you determine if its viral or bacterial are: (This is not absolute)

o If you’ve been around people who cough or sneeze (at work or school) and subsequently (you and other healthy people exposed) get it within a matter of hours, it is most likely viral. (As viral sore throat is highly contagious, it spreads easily through contact of bodily fluids e.g. mucus or saliva) Bacterial sore throat usually takes hours to days to develop. Therefore, the best way to prevent sore throat is to avoid people who are sick, frequent effective hand washing technique and a healthy living.

o If you’ve been having it for more than a week (without the exposure to a constant source of new infected people), it is most likely bacterial. (A single episode of viral sore throat usually last for 3 to 7 days, but a bacterial last longer than a week. This is with the exception that you do not get repeated viral infections (e.g. being in a classroom full of students who are also coughing) as this might make it seem like a bacterial sore throat.)

- In light that most sore throat cases are viral infections rather than bacterial, what is the treatment for viral sore throat?

o Antivirals are effective in preventing and treating viral sore throats but are rather expensive and are not used for treatment of the ‘patty’ sore throat.

o If you can’t afford / get antivirals, there is only supportive therapy. (This means that you can only treat the symptoms individually i.e. bring down the fever by giving paracetamol (panadol) or relieve the pain by giving analgesics (pain-killer). However, this does NOT cure the root cause of the problem, but ONLY relieves the patient of his/her complaints! )

o The use of antibiotics is a clinically controversial issue.

o Theoretically, the use of antibiotics for viral sore throat is not encouraged. Reasons being:

§ There are no bacteria to kill, why use anti-bacteria? J (Please keep in mind that there are cases though no bacterial infection is detected, a high clinical suspicion for a potentially harmful bacterial infection is favoured and treated to prevent the unwanted side effects. Therefore, experience is needed for these.)

§ Widespread usage of antibiotics causes the emergence of anti-bacterial resistant bacteria. (most famous bacteria are MRSA / Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus & tuberculosis /TB bacteria – Mycobacterium tuberculosis)

§ Induction of bacterial infection. (The prolonged use of antibiotics will kill the local bacterial flora / “good bacteria” and this makes room for pathogenic bacteria / “bad bacteria” to colonise the free spaces that was made available for them.)

§ There are indications for antibiotic use in sore throats that are approved by WHO, but these are mainly for bacterial use.

o How about traditional medicine or home remedies?

§ Most of these methods are either passed down from generation to generation or from wise sayings / observations done by our ancestors. Though it might work for some, it is also true that it might not work for others. If it’s harmless, why not try it? J

§There are no scientific research done on most of these treatments, therefore no substantial proof can be used to backup the usage of these methods.