Are you experiencing sore throat along with fever? Oh! You feel that this is the condition which faced by numerous other individuals apart from you! You are right! These are the symptoms of Tonsillitis. It is your body's immune response when bacteria and viruses attempt to enter your body.
What is Tonsillitis?
Tonsillitis is the inflammation of the tonsils, mainly caused due to a bacterial or a viral infection. When viruses and bacteria enter our body through mouth or nose, the tonsils try to filter them. The White Blood Corpuscles, WBCs, within the tonsils attack and destroy these organisms and this protective response of the body is expressed in terms of inflammation and fever.
Symptoms of Tonsillitis
- Pain while swallowing food or drinking fluids
- Sore throat and pain
- Nasal congestion
- Fever or chills
- Redness of tonsil or formation of yellow or white patches on tonsil
- Headaches, body aches and sore eyes
- Inflamed and enlarged glands in the jaws and neck
- Running nose and congestion of nasal passages
Causes of Tonsillitis
- Tonsillitis can be caused due to various types of viruses, most common being the common cold viruses such as the rhinovirus and the influenza virus.
- Viruses like HIV, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex can also cause tonsillitis.
- Bacterial infections, caused by Group A streptococcal bacteria, diphtheria bacteria and bacteria of the pneumonia family can also cause inflammation of the tonsils and the other related conditions. Tonsillitis can also be caused by treponema, a bacterial genus and spirochaeta, a type of anaerobic bacteria.
Treatment for Tonsillitis
Since fever and sore throat are the two main symptoms to give you the major troubles, so you must implement measures to keep these two symptoms under control.
- Sore throat can be treated by gargling with warm water with a pinch of salt in it. Some warm liquids like milk and medicated candies like lozenges, Strepsils and Halls, available as over-the-counter remedies, can prove to be effective as well.
- Avoid drinking cold water and other cold drinks.
- Eat soft to semi-solid foods for easy swallowing. Foods like porridges, soups, fruit juices (avoid cold juices), khichadi, dalia or broken wheat, upama (semolina or cream of wheat) and soft cooked rice are good options.
- Fever can be treated through the use of antipyretic or anti-fever drugs.
- In certain cases of viral and bacterial infections, you may also be asked to undergo treatments with antibiotics.
Tonsillitis shows that your body is fighting against the invasion of foreign bodies. It shows that your immune system is trying to resist the bacteria and the virus from making a deeper entry into your body. It is a common health condition experienced by majority of the population. With proper management and precautions, you can afford to minimize the severity of the symptoms.
