Sore Throat

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Basics

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

Learn More

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

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For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

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

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• 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)

Symptoms

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• 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

Diagnosis and Tests

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• 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

Treatments and Therapies

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• Mouth Dryness or Thick Saliva (American Cancer Society) Also in Spanish
• Sore Throat: Diagnosis and Treatment (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Sore, Scratchy Throat? Soothing Pain from Illness or Allergy (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

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

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

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• Article: Efficacy of lidocaine via trachospray in postoperative sore throat and hemodynamic...
• Article: Identification of Acanthopanax trifoliatus (L.) Merr as a Novel Potential Therapeutic...
• Article: Feasibility of utilizing the Modified Centor Criteria in adult virtual care.
• Sore Throat -- see more articles

Find an Expert

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• American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery
• Find an ENT (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Children

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• What to Do About a Sore Throat (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• When a Sore Throat Is a More Serious Infection (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

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