When to worry about a sore throat

BY SUN REPORTERA lot of Batswana suffer from tonsillitis, a condition where your tonsils are inflamed or swollen and may sometimes give you difficulties when swallowing. It can be caused either by bacteria or viruses.

Speaking to the Sunhealth, Dr Olekantse Kakabe a general practitioner says the viral tonsillitis is always worse than the bacterial one and takes longer to heal; it also tends to be infectious.

“The problem is you can’t tell by simply looking at it, unless you wait and see the length of time it takes to heal. The viral one takes longer than the bacterial one,” he said.

Tonsillitis may sometimes call for one to have a tonsillectomy; this is a process whereby your tonsils are removed through surgery.

“If you are having recurrent tonsillitis, then you might end up having surgery to remove your tonsils. Another indication is that if the tonsillitis is so severe that you miss work or school, just simply if it is disrupting normal activities,” the doctor added.

He also cautioned adults who have one-sided tonsillitis to ensure they get proper check ups as it may be a sign of something else, and not just a normal infection. “If you have an adult with only one sided tonsillitis, that is, the swelling is on one side then it should be removed because it may be cancer. Especially if it takes long to heal.”

However, Dr Kakabe said the signs for a tonsillectomy might be different for children including very high fever.

“When a child has febrile convulsions; this is when a child gets very high fever then starts convulsing, that are brought about by tonsillitis then it’s an indication that the tonsils need to be removed.”

There are different misconceptions about having a tonsillectomy one of them being, that if you have a tonsillectomy then you cannot get flu or sore throats or loss of the sense for taste.

Dr Kakabe explained that one is still prone to sore throats, influenza or voice loss even after a tonsillectomy. “We don’t touch the vocal cords or the rest of the pharynx, we only remove the tonsils so you can still have flu, sore throat, and loss of voice.”