HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury
Tonsillitis
Mate katirehe
Your tonsils are areas of lymph tissue at the back of your mouth that help you fight infections. Tonsillitis is the medical name for when your tonsils are red and swollen (inflamed).
Most tonsillitis is caused by a virus and gets better with no treatment other than pain relief.
But some tonsillitis is caused by a bacteria called streptococcus (strep-toe-kok-us). This is known as strep throat, and your general practice team can treat it with antibiotics. In a few cases strep throat leads to a more serious illness called rheumatic fever.
You are at more risk of rheumatic fever if:
- you or someone in your family or household has had rheumatic fever before
- you or your tamaiti (child) fit two or more of these descriptions:
- Māori or Pacific
- 3 to 35 years old
- live in poor or crowded conditions.
Important
If you or your tamaiti (child) have a high risk for rheumatic fever, see a health professional to check any sore throat within 1 or 2 days. If your health professional prescribes antibiotics for your sore throat, it is important to take them all for the entire 10 days. This is to stop you getting rheumatic fever, which can damage your heart.
Symptoms of tonsillitis
- Sore throat.
- Difficulty swallowing.
- Swollen tonsils.
- A white or yellow coating on your tonsils.
- A high temperature.
- Swollen neck glands.
Causes of tonsillitis
Most tonsillitis is caused by:
- cold or flu viruses
- glandular fever (Epstein-Barr virus), in rangatahi (teenagers)
- a bacterial infection, especially with streptococcus (strep throat).
Diagnosing tonsillitis
Your health professional will usually only need to hear your symptoms and look at your throat.
You may have a swab taken from your throat to check for strep throat.
If your health professional thinks you might have glandular fever, they will take a blood test.
Treating tonsillitis
Most tonsillitis gets better after 2 or 3 days and goes away completely in 7 to 10 days without any treatment. If you have strep throat you will need to take antibiotics for 10 days. It is important to finish them all to stop you getting rheumatic fever.
If you or your tamaiti get repeated bouts of tonsillitis that lead to a lot of time off work or school, you may need to have your tonsils removed. This is done in an operation called a tonsillectomy.
Self-care with tonsillitis
- Take pain relief such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Suck on ice cubes or lozenges.
- Older tamariki (children) and adults can gargle warm salt water. But make sure you spit it out and do not swallow the salt water.
- Avoid smoking or smoky places.
- Get rest.
See your general practice team if you or your tamaiti:
- have difficulty breathing
- cannot swallow saliva, which may cause dribbling
- cannot get enough fluids
- have severe pain
- have ongoing high fever
- are not improving after two days
- have earache or joint pain.
On the next page: Tonsillectomy
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed October 2023.
Sources
See also:
Review key: HISTT-17240
