Persistent Unilateral Sore Throat: Should It Be Included in the 2-Week Wait Referral Criteria by NICE

Avoiding sore throat morbidity and mortality: when is it not "just a sore throat?".

Sore throat consistently ranks in the top 10 reasons for ambulatory care visits. We see this symptom so often that our vocabulary even includes the phrase “just a sore throat.” For more than 50 years, physicians have considered group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus the only important cause of sore throat, because it can lead to acute rheumatic fever. Although we know that other organisms can als...

Sore throat.

INTRODUCTION About 10-30% of people present to primary healthcare services with sore throat each year. The causative organisms of sore throat may be bacteria (most commonly Streptococcus) or viruses (typically rhinovirus), although it is difficult to distinguish bacterial from viral infections clinically. METHODS AND OUTCOMES We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following ...

A 17-year-old adolescent with persistent sore throat.

Lemierre's syndrome: a sinister sore throat every clinician should remember.

Fusobacterium necrophorum is an anaerobic gram-negative bacterium that can present as a painful sore throat. Although uncommon, clinicians need to be aware of this condition as this can present a diagnostic challenge, with the initial symptoms being non-specific followed by a fulminant course. We present the case of a previously healthy girl who presented with a sore throat but later developed ...

When should patients seek care for sore throat?

Fine and colleagues’ article in this issue (1) adds an interesting variation on the “sore throat question.” Whether to treat or test patients with sore throat continues to generate differing opinions. International guidelines suggest 3 strategies: neither test nor treat anyone, test patients with a substantial probability of group A streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis and treat those who test posit...