Q. What are the signs of tonsillitis?

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and medically reviewed by iCliniq medical review team.

Published on May 26, 2016 and last reviewed on: Jun 14, 2019

Patient's Query

Hi doctor,

My 15 year old daughter always gets sick. When I take her to the doctor, every time he used to say it as viral infection. This is the fifth time in a year she has been sick with the same symptoms. Her symptoms are cough, low fever, sore throat and yellowish white colored mucus covering her tonsils and back of throat. Are these the signs of tonsil infection? Should her tonsils get removed?

Answer

Dr. Geeta Priyadarsini Kamminana

General Medicine Internal Medicine

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Let me first enlighten you about tonsils.

Tonsils are a pair of soft tissues located on either side of your pharynx.

They are lymphoid tissue and play an important role in immune system to fight infections and act as first line defense for throat infections.

Active infection of tonsil is known as tonsillitis.

Indications for tonsillectomy or removal of tonsils are,

Recurrent sore throat or Strep throat.
Swollen tonsils leading to difficulty in breathing.
Eating difficulty.
Sleep difficulty.
Snoring that it obstructive sleep apnea.

I would recommend you to go for throat swab and culture to rule out Streptococcus infection.

Use antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Maintain good oral hygiene and nutritious food to improve her immunity.

The Probable causes:

1. Eating more chocolates or ice creams.
2. Dental and oral hygiene.

Differential diagnosis:

Throat swab and culture or RADT (rapid antigen detecting test).

Probable diagnosis:

URTI (upper respiratory tract infection).

Treatment plan:

If culture is positive then I suggest Tablet Amoxicillin 625 mg twice daily or tablet Amoxicillin 500 mg thrice daily for 10 days. Consult your specialist doctor, discuss with him or her and take the medicine with consent.

Preventive measures:

1. Repeated salt water gargling.
2. Maintain oral hygiene.
3. No high carb diets like ice creams and chocolates.

Regarding follow up:

For further information consult an internal medicine physician online.---> https://www.icliniq.com/ask-a-doctor-online/internal-medicine-physician