Sore throat is an inflammation of the throat that causes itchiness, pain and uneasiness which is heightened when you cough, swallow or talk. These symptoms of pain and irritability are often times accompanied by fever and cold. Sore throat can be very painful, annoying, and discomforting. It is sometimes an indication or symptom of an illness.
The most prevalent cause of sore throat is viral infection such as flu, common cold, chicken pox, and other viral infections. Sore throat can occur as a symptom of these infections as these viruses once in the bloodstream of an individual can trigger sore throat. Another cause is bacterial infection such as whooping cough, strep throat.
There are other causes of sore throat, some triggered by humans, others environmental.
Human-triggered causes includes:
- Straining of the throat muscles: Too much yelling, screaming, over-stretching of the voice box in concerts, live matches can cause inflammation of the throat leading to sore throat.
- Unnecessary dryness and dehydration: When the body is dehydrated and the throat is unnecessarily dry, it can lead to voice crackling and can give room for sore throat
Allergies.
- Use of mouth to breath when nostrils are blocked: When done continuously, this may give room to growth of unhealthy micro-organisms in the throat which can trigger an infection of the throat.
Environmental factors include:
- Too much dust and dry air in the atmosphere: this may cause inhalation of dust, dirt that can cause irritations in the throat.
Treatment and remedies
Treatment of sore throat actually depends on the cause. So if caused by a viral infection, the infection should be treated and the symptom would be eradicated.
However, there are home remedies for quick relief of sore throats, some of them are listed below:
- Drinking plenty of warm water and other fluids to avoid dehydration and dryness of throat.
- Cleansing of mouth and throat with warm salt water by gargling.
- Taking a lot of honey drops can also be very useful.
- Avoiding contact with the source of allergy or irritation, and protecting yourself against dry weather conditions using humidifiers and the likes.
- Consumption of cough drops, throat lozenges, peppermint: candy and oil.
- Steam inhalation and baths.
If sore throat persists for more than seven days and it is accompanied by symptoms such as difficulty in breathing and swallowing, rash, fever and unusually high temperature, joint pains, blood drops in cough mucus, the patient should consult a doctor immediately
