Sore Throat (original) (raw)

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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Summary

Your throat is a tube that carries food to your esophagus and air to your windpipe and larynx (also called the voice box). The technical name for the throat is pharynx.

You can have a sore throat for many reasons. Often, colds and flu cause sore throats. Other causes can include:

• Allergies
• Mononucleosis
• Smoking
• Strep throat
• Tonsillitis

Treatment depends on the cause. Sucking on lozenges, drinking lots of liquids, and gargling may ease the pain. Over-the-counter pain relievers can also help, but children should not take aspirin.

Start Here

• Sore Throat (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

• Sore Throat Basics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

• Sore Throat: When to See a Doctor (American Osteopathic Association)

• Sore Throats (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)

• Sore Throat: Symptoms and Causes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

• Throat Problems (Symptom Checker) (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

• Difference between a Sore Throat, Strep, and Tonsillitis (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

• Strep A Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pharyngitis (National Institutes of Health)

• Pharyngitis - sore throat (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

• Pharyngitis - viral (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish