Infectious Causes of Sore Throat

If you ask anybody what is a common pathogen that causes a bad sore throat, strep is probably the answer you will get the majority of the times. However, strep due to GABHS for which a rapid strep test is performed only accounts for about 10-15% of all sore throats overall due to a bacteria. When taking into consideration ALL pathogens, viruses cause the majority of all sore throats. Indeed, viruses cause 85% to 95% of throat infections in adults and children younger than 5 years of age; for th…

4/18/2021 0

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Sarah Silverman Suffered From Epiglottitis

Photo by Joan Kirby in Wikipedia Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman reported on her Facebook page that she suffered from epiglottitis last week that required intubation and an ICU stay at Cedars Sinai Hospital last week.  Apparently, her symptoms started with a simple sore throat. The normal epiglottis is a very thin flap of tissue that closes over the windpipe when swallowing preventing food/liquids from going down the wrong way. Shown by the blue arrow in the picture below, when …

7/06/2016 0

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What is the Most Common Cause of Bacterial Sore Throat? (Hint... It is NOT Strep)

Viruses may cause the most sore throats, but when it comes to bacterial sources, strep seems to get a bad rap as THE germ that causes tonsillitis and pharyngitis. However, a 2015 study from University of Alabama suggests that group A strep which is detected by the commonly used rapid strep swab only accounts for about 10% of bacterial sore throats. The real culprit that causes most of the bad non-viral sore throats at least in young adults (15-30 years) is Fusobacterium necrophorum . Th…

5/08/2015 1

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President Obama Sees ENT Doctor

President Obama on Saturday, Dec 6, 2014 saw an ENT for a sore throat several weeks in duration. An Army ENT physician conducted a fiberoptic laryngoscopy which suggested the sore throat was due to acid reflux . The exam apparently " revealed soft tissue swelling in the posterior throat", Mr. Obama's doctor, Ronny L Jackson, said in a statement. Presumably, treatment entailed acid reflux medications as well ask lifestyle changes to minimize the reflux thereby resolving the sor…

12/07/2014 0

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New Treatment for Sore Throat

Well according to American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro, "I used to get a lot of sore throats and then one of my sisters told me that all illnesses start in the colon. I started taking a daily colon cleanser powder mixed with fresh juice every morning and it made an enormous difference," Quatro told the Daily Mail newspaper. It is unclear how many ounces of juice, what type of juice, and grams of colon cleansing powder was required to obtain this beneficial effect. For her outs…

12/31/2011 0

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Rapid Strep Test Positive But No Sore Throat

Occasionally, I see patients who have received throat swabs for strep that have come back positive... even if they have no signs or symptoms of pharyngitis . In this situation, there are 2 main actions a physician may take (I am biased towards one): 1) Prescribe antibiotics until throat cultures are normal 2) Do nothing Personally, if a patient is without throat symptoms and has no history of rheumatic fever or kidney damage, I would not have even bothered obtaining a strep test . Wha…

3/06/2011 1

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