Pharyngitis

Pharyngitis is inflammation of the back of the throat, known as the pharynx. It typically results in a sore throat and fever. Other symptoms may include a runny nose, cough, headache, and a hoarse voice. Symptoms usually last 3–5 days. Complications can include sinusitis and acute otitis media. Pharyngitis is a type of upper respiratory tract infection. Pharyngitis is inflammation of the back of the throat, known as the pharynx. It typically results in a sore throat and fever. Other symptoms may include a runny nose, cough, headache, and a hoarse voice. Symptoms usually last 3–5 days. Complications can include sinusitis and acute otitis media. Pharyngitis is a type of upper respiratory tract infection. Most cases are caused by a viral infection. Strep throat, a bacterial infection, is the cause in about 25% of children and 10% of adults. Uncommon causes include other bacteria such as gonorrhea, fungus, irritants such as smoke, allergies, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Specific testing is not recommended in people who have clear symptoms of a viral infection, such as a cold. Otherwise, a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) or throat swab is recommended. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms include epiglottitis, thyroiditis, retropharyngeal abscess, and occasionally heart disease. NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, can be used to help with the pain. Numbing medication, such as topical lidocaine, may also help. Strep throat is typically treated with antibiotics, such as either penicillin or amoxicillin. If steroids are useful in acute pharyngitis, other than possibly in severe cases, is unclear. About 7.5% of people have a sore throat in any 3-month period. Two or three episodes in a year are not uncommon. This resulted in 15 million physician visits in the United States in 2007. Pharyngitis is the most common cause of a sore throat. The word comes from the Greek word pharynx meaning 'throat' and the suffix -itis meaning 'inflammation'. Pharyngitis is a type of inflammation caused by an upper respiratory tract infection. It may be classified as acute or chronic. Acute pharyngitis may be catarrhal, purulent, or ulcerative, depending on the causative agent and the immune capacity of the affected individual. Chronic pharyngitis may be catarrhal, hypertrophic, or atrophic. Tonsillitis is a subtype of pharyngitis. If the inflammation includes both the tonsils and other parts of the throat, it may be called pharyngotonsillitis. Another subclassification is nasopharyngitis (the common cold). Most cases are due to an infectious organism acquired from close contact with an infected individual. These comprise about 40–80% of all infectious cases and can be a feature of many different types of viral infections. A number of different bacteria can infect the human throat. The most common is group A streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes), but others include Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Bordetella pertussis, Bacillus anthracis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Fusobacterium necrophorum.