Illness name: tonsillitis
Description:
Tonsillitis is an infection of the tonsils at the back of your throat. It is a common childhood illness, but teenagers and adults can get it too.
Tonsillitis can feel like a bad cold or flu. The tonsils at the back of your throat will be red and swollen.
The main symptoms in children and adults are:
Sometimes the symptoms can be more severe and include:
Look at other
sore throat symptoms
.
Symptoms will usually go away after 3 to 4 days.
Tonsillitis is not contagious, but most of the infections that cause it are, for example, colds and flu.
To stop these infections spreading:
Tonsillitis usually gets better on its own after a few days.
To help treat the symptoms:
Young children should not gargle with salty water.
Speak to a pharmacist about tonsillitis.
They can give advice and suggest treatments, like:
A doctor can usually tell it's tonsillitis by asking about your symptoms and looking at the back of your throat.
You may also need:
You should get any test results back within 2 or 3 days.
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Treatment will depend on what caused your tonsillitis:
A GP will usually wait for the test results to tell which type you have.
It's very rare that someone needs to have their tonsils taken out.
This is usually only the case if you have severe tonsillitis that keeps coming back.
Tonsillitis is usually caused by a virus, such as a cold, but it can also be due to a bacterial infection such as strep throat.
Complications with tonsillitis are very rare.
Sometimes you can get a pocket filled with pus (abscess) between your tonsils and the wall of your throat. This is called quinsy.
These are signs of quinsy.
Page last reviewed: 10 February 2021
Tonsillitis
Check if you have tonsillitis
What tonsils with pus-filled spots can look like
If you're not sure it's tonsillitis
How long tonsillitis lasts
How to treat tonsillitis yourself
How to gargle with salty water
A pharmacist can help with tonsillitis
Non-urgent advice:
See a GP if:
What happens at your GP appointment
Help us improve our website
Treatment from a GP
Important:
Surgery to remove your tonsils
Causes of tonsillitis
Complications with tonsillitis (quinsy)
Immediate action required:
Call 999 or go to A&E if you have:
Next review due: 10 February 2024