Causes for a Sore Throat

A sore throat can have any number of different causes. One of the simple causes is if the temperature in a room is not comfortable, and this can cause the throat to feel very dry and often very sore and scratchy. This cause is easily fixed by taking care of the room temperatures to relieve the throat pain.

Sometimes when people have a lot of allergies and nasal congestion, it can cause them to have a throat that feels quite raw and sore all of the time. Your allergies may be caused by changes in seasons when more pollen is in the air, from pet dander, and sometimes people have a problem with molds too. If you take decide to try allergy medicine when discussing this with your doctor, it may help to relieve those sore throat symptoms.

Tonsillitis may also be another sore throat cause. Your throat will feel raw and very sore, and you'll also be running a fever. This is where the tonsils are infected with bacteria. Other symptoms of tonsillitis are a loss of the voice, and a lot of trouble swallowing due to the sore throat.

Mononucleosis is sometimes a possible cause for having a sore throat. Not only is your throat raw and sore, but there is a fever sometimes quite high, possible skin rash, no appetite, and the lymph nodes are swollen in the neck making it hard to turn the head from side to side. This illness can last anywhere from 7 days or it can last for many months.

The common cold can give anyone a sore and scratchy throat. The common cold also causes just a low grade fever, coughing, tickling in the ears, and nasal congestion. You will probably also have watery eyes and body aches all over.

Strep throat, (streptococcus bacteria) is another cause of sore throat. A fever of at least 101 or greater sets in, lymph nodes are very sore around the neck area, and swallowing is quite painful. Pus is often found in the back of the throat when the doctor examines it. Strep throats need to be treated with antibiotics to not only cure the infection, but also prevent rheumatic fever.

Laryngitis not only causes a sore throat, but a loss of the voice. Your voice will be weak and hoarse, and you may experience a cough type that is very dry and not productive. In bacterial laryngitis, there is a fever. If it is viral, there is no fever or just a very low grade temperature. Viral laryngitis just has to run its course.

Other serious causes of a sore throat are things like throat cancers where a tumor develops and causes sore throats and trouble swallowing. People that have HIV can also have an ongoing sore throat that continues on as part of the nature of the illness.