Infections are at the top of the list when pain in the throat is accused, and these are contagious. It can either be a virus that causes the sore throat or a bacteria. The cold, the flu are ilnesses caused by a virus and the mycoplasma or the strep by a bacteria. The last ones do respond to treatment with antibiotics, unlike viruses.

Now we are going to talk about each case of sore throat in particular to better understand how to detect each case in part.

First on the list are viruses. If you are facing yourself with a sore throat caused by a virus, other symptoms may include coughing, a runny nose, sneezing. These types of viruses are mostly found in the cold season and are very contagious. Our body need aproximately one week to build the antibodies necessary to fight the viruses.

Other viral infections that are accompanied by sore throat can be the chicken pox, the cough.

Another viral infection on the virus list is the mono. This takes more than seven days to cure. What the virus does is to get into our lymph system and makes our tonsils get larger, and swollen of the glands in our neck. The consequences are pretty hard to take for our body. They can be shortness of breath, a very painful throat and even liver damage, but not in all cases. It is usually spread amongst teenagers.

Second on the list are the bacteria. A special streptococcus bacteria causes the strep throat. If not treated accordingly, this might damage the kidneys and heart valves, cause ear infections, pneumonia and many more diseases.

That is the reason why doctors prescribe antibiotics for this kind of ilness. It is also quite difficult to detect a strep throat, and throat culture has to be taken. Unfortunately this test cannot detect other forms of bacteria that can give a person a strep throat, so more tests need to be taken.

A case of infection with bacteria is tonsillitis. This is very common with children between ages of one to three. They get sick so their organism can produce antibodies.

There is also one infection more dangerous than the others. It is called epiglottitis. The part of the body infected with this bacteria is the larynx, which swell. If the swelling is severe, this might actually block the airway.

The third thing to talk about when facing a sore throat are allergies. These are of many kinds. One can be alergic to animals, dust , pollen. There are different treatments for all these allergies.

You can also get a sore throat from iritation of reflux.

The worst thing that could happen if accusing a sore throat is a tumor. Important symptoms in this case are a lump in your neck, weight loss and spitting of blood. In this case a doctor must be seen at once.