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How Does Tonsillitis Spread?
Tonsillitis is also contagious through kissing.
Close contact with a sick individual raises the risk of tonsillitis.
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But these infections may not always cause tonsillitis itself.
How Long Are You Contagious With Tonsillitis?
People with tonsillitis are likely contagious about one to two days before they develop symptoms.
Individuals with viral tonsillitis are contagious until their symptoms resolve.
Individuals with bacterial tonsillitis are contagious until they have been onantibiotictreatment for 12 to 24 hours.
What Is Tonsillitis?
Tonsillitisrefers to the swelling of thetonsils.
It is resulting from an infection that starts with eitherbacteriaor avirus.
Tonsillitis is common in school-age children and adolescents.
Symptoms
Tonsillitis often causes a very sore throat.
You may feel pain whenswallowing.
Thetonsilscan become very red and swollen, which may also cause difficulty breathing.
Other symptoms of tonsillitis may include:
When Is Tonsillitis an Emergency?
In some cases, tonsillitis can become serious.
Tonsillitis symptoms may last from a few days to a week.
See your healthcare provider if your symptoms do not start to resolve after a few days.
If your healthcare provider prescribes an antibiotic, you will likely start feeling better after a day or two.
What Causes Tonsillitis?
Tonsillitis is resulting from an infection of the tonsils.
The infection can be viral or bacterial.
BothCOVID-19and tonsillitis can cause a sore throat.
If you are unsure which virus is causing your symptoms, consider taking a COVID-19 test.
If this test comes back positive, then you have strep throat.
Thecause of strep throatis bacterial.
With the rapid strep test, there is a risk of a false negative.
This is why your healthcare provider may recommend a throat culture if your strep test is negative.
Results usually come back within 24 hours.
Viral Tonsillitis Treatment
Viral tonsillitis usually resolves on its own and does not require medical treatment.
Tonsillitis can lead to dehydration because of painful swallowing.
A bacterial or viral infection causes tonsillitis.
These germs are highly contagious.
Common tonsillitis symptoms usually include a sore throat, fever, painful swallowing, and fatigue.
Tonsillitis is most common in school-age children and adolescents.
Viral tonsillitis usually resolves independently, and bacterial tonsillitis may require treatment with antibiotics.
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