There are a large number of diseases of the oral cavity. One of them is herpes sore throat. This disease has several more names: aphthous pharyngitis, herpangina, herpetic tonsillitis. The disease is caused by pathogenic microorganisms, which, under favorable conditions, actively multiply on the mucous membrane of the pharynx and mouth.
Transmission routes and causes
The disease is transmitted in many ways. Sometimes there is a massive infection. Most often this happens in children's institutions, where there is no strict control over the contacts of he althy children with patients whose parents did not leave home. There are cases of transmission of the disease to humans from animals. There are the following ways of transmitting the disease:
- Airborne.
- Contact household.
- Fecal-oral.
- Through animals.
The virus is especially active in spring and summer. Contributes to the appearance of the disease weakened immunity. In addition to the factors that cause disease in adults, include:
- Stress and anxiety.
- Respiratory disease, flu.
- Adenovirus infection.
- Chronic ailments.
First, the virus enters the intestinal lymph nodes. There he begins to multiply. If the virus has entered the bloodstream, then experts are talking about viremia (bacteria entering the bloodstream and spreading them throughout the body). A person who has had herpes sore throat develops a strong immunity to the disease. If the next time the disease appears due to other strains, then the existing immunity will not save.
Symptoms
The incubation period of the disease is from one to two weeks. Sometimes the disease is asymptomatic, but most often with the following symptoms:
- Sore throat.
- Inflammation of the mouth and gums.
Acute herpes sore throat is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Body temperature 39-40 degrees.
- Fever lasts about six days.
- Swollen tonsils.
- Irritability and weakness.
- Loss of appetite.
- Salivation and runny nose.
Local signs of the disease include:
- Water blisters in mouth and nose, palate, tonsils.
- After a while, the blisters burst and a clear liquid appears.
- In place of the blisters, sores appear, which sometimes merge with each other. This is another symptom of herpes sore throat. The photo below demonstrates it clearly. The sores heal a week after they appear.
In children, the disease is more acute. The temperature lasts for about three days. Antipyretics don't help. Let us consider in more detail how the disease proceeds in this category of patients.
Herpes sore throat in children
In babies, this disease is quite common. It is usually caused by dangerous Coxsackieviruses, ECHO enteroviruses, herpes virus type 1 or 2.
The main risk group is preschoolers and younger students. The disease can be observed in newborns and infants. The cause of herpes sore throat in children of this age is infection with a virus in the womb. This occurs if a pregnant woman has experienced a herpes infection, which she did not treat diligently enough or did not go to the doctor at all. Herpes sore throat in children under one year is particularly acute. It can lead to serious consequences if left untreated.
The peak of the disease occurs in summer-autumn, because it is at this time that the viruses that cause it are most active.
About a week after infection, the first symptoms appear:
- Body temperature rises.
- Pain in the throat.
- Sometimes a child suffers from headaches, diarrhea, nausea.
- There are chills, fever.
- Rhinitis.
- Weakness, weakness
Babies get seizures.
Inflammation and rash in the oral cavity is a characteristic sign of herpes sore throat in children. A photo,posted below, clearly demonstrates this symptom.
Small bubbles appear on the surface of the mucosa. They are surrounded by a dense ring. These inflammations are very painful. It is difficult for a child not only to eat, but also to drink.
The acute period of the disease lasts about a week. After that, the baby's condition returns to normal, but he remains an active carrier of the virus for another seven days.
Diagnosis and treatment of illness in children
Most often, the diagnosis is made on the basis of external symptoms. For more accurate results, complex and expensive virological or serological methods are used:
- Cultural.
- Complement binding reaction.
- Determination of increased leukocytosis.
What is getting rid of the disease in children? With herpes sore throat, symptoms and treatment depend on the severity of the disease. No specific antiviral therapy available.
Symptomatic treatment:
- Use of antipyretic drugs ("Panadol", "Efferalgan", "Nurofen").
- Use of anti-inflammatory drugs ("Ibuprofen", "Nimesulide").
- Removal of edema that interferes with breathing and swallowing ("Suprastin", "Diazolin").
- Relieve pain (Castellani liquid and sage decoction).
- Antiseptic wound treatment.
We should talk a little about diet. Boiled cereals, mashed potatoes, broths and soups should be chilled.
Duringsick child should receive vitamins. Rosehip decoction, lemon, tea with honey and jam are suitable for these purposes.
It is forbidden to warm up the throat, wrap it up, put compresses, do inhalations with warm and hot solutions. In heat, the activity of the virus increases, so the disease is delayed.
Drug treatment of disease in adults
Herpes sore throat in adults is treated in a similar way. Patients are assigned:
- Antivirals.
- Immunostimulants.
- Vitamins.
Antibiotics are not usually prescribed. They increase the risk of complications because they kill beneficial bacteria.
During getting rid of the disease, special attention is paid to topical drugs:
- Antiseptic solutions are used to rinse and treat sore throats. Well cauterizes sores "Lugol". also this drug resists the addition of a secondary bacterial infection.
- Sprays and aerosols containing antiseptics.
- Throat pills to be sucked. They reduce swelling and relieve pain.
Treatment of herpes sore throat in adults consists of several stages:
- Taking antihistamine drugs ("Diazolin", "Suprastin"). They will help to cope with swelling.
- Antiseptics - exclude re-infection.
- Anti-inflammatory - "Ibuprofen", "Nimesulide".
The entire period of treatment, the patient must complybed rest. The patient should be isolated from he althy people. He needs to drink plenty of fluids. Tea with lemon, rosehip is suitable for this.
Be careful with antibiotics. The disease is characterized as a viral infection. If the treatment does not help for a long time, and the temperature does not decrease, only in this case you can resort to antibacterial drugs.
Physiotherapy
This type of treatment is prescribed during the recovery period, when the wounds in the throat are healing.
Ultraviolet treatment of these areas is an effective treatment for herpes sore throat. The photo helps to understand how this procedure is performed. Thanks to UV radiation, the epithelialization of the foci and the drying of the sores occurs.
The following methods are also used:
- Laser treatment. The beam affects the foci of pathology in the throat. This procedure eliminates the risk of a secondary bacterial infection.
- Magnetotherapy. The mucous layers of the pharynx are affected by a magnetic field that has a certain intensity. The procedure reduces pain and inflammation. If there are swelling, then they decrease, and the damaged areas heal faster.
Diet
With symptoms of herpes sore throat, the patient is prescribed not only medication, but also bed rest and diet. Rest is important for the first four days. The room where the patient is located should be well ventilated. All doctor's recommendations must be followed. not to infectrelatives, the patient should have separate dishes and household items.
The following foods should be avoided:
- Alcohol and smoked meats.
- Coffee.
- Spices, vinegar and spices.
- Nuts.
- Caviar.
- Citrus.
Eating like this is necessary in order not to irritate the inflamed mucous membrane of the throat. Herpes sore throat causes a painful condition during meals. Therefore, food should be warm and liquid. You should eat in small portions. If a person refuses to eat, then give him more drink - mineral water without gas, compotes, teas, rosehip broth.
Disease in pregnant women
For women who are expecting a baby, herpes sore throat is a serious problem. Any medication can harm the baby, but not treating the disease is even worse, as the multiplied viruses cause intoxication in a woman. In addition, as noted above, they are able to cross the placenta.
Herpes sore throat in pregnant women can cause:
- Placental abruption.
- Heart muscle damage.
- Miscarriage.
- Intoxication.
- Serous meningitis.
Treatment of the disease should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. Some experts prescribe mild antibiotics. Additionally, the expectant mother can gargle, irrigate it with herbal decoctions. Well suited - chamomile, calendula, oak bark. Sea buckthorn, fir, castor oil is used to heal ulcers.
Lugol's solution will help to cope with the disease.
FromAcyclovir, Gerpevir, Zovirax should be abandoned.
After the end of treatment, the pregnant woman undergoes a course of immunoglobulin. The expectant mother takes vitamins, echinacea, ginseng, and follows a special diet.
Traditional medicine
Folk remedies will help get rid of herpes sore throat in children and adults.
- Honey. You can use this tasty medicine only if you are not allergic to bee products. This product has analgesic, expectorant, antibacterial action. Using a small amount of this remedy every day, you can relieve sore throat, improve blood flow in the capillaries, and speed up metabolic processes. Honey is added to warm tea. From it you can prepare solutions for rinsing.
- Propolis. After eating, a piece of this substance is enough to chew. You can gargle with a solution of propolis tincture. It is prepared as follows: take 500 ml of medical alcohol (70%), add 100 g of crushed propolis to it and leave it in the room until the liquid becomes homogeneous. To make propolis dissolve faster, alcohol can be slightly warmed up. For rinsing take Art. a spoonful of tincture in a glass of water.
- Treatment of herpes sore throat with beets. Vegetable - will help relieve swelling of the throat mucosa, inflammation of the tonsils, and avoid complications. The juice of this plant is prepared as follows: the root crop is peeled, crushed in a blender. In the resulting fresh, one tablespoon of six percent vinegar is added. Remedy neededdilute in water (1:2) and gargle.
- Soda. Half a teaspoon of soda dissolves in a glass of water. Use this rinse solution.
- Garlic. The garlic clove is minced. Wine or apple cider vinegar, honey is added to it. Several times a day, the mixture is taken orally. Try to keep the product in your mouth for a few minutes.
Complications
If the disease is severe or there is no proper treatment, complications may occur. Viruses begin to infect other organs, causing the following diseases:
- Pyelonephritis.
- Encephalitis.
- Serous meningitis.
- Inflammation of the eyes with hemorrhage.
- Infectious heart disease (myocarditis).
If herpes sore throat is accompanied by meningitis, then new symptoms appear - tonic spasm of masticatory muscles and increased muscle tone of the neck.
When diagnosing myocarditis, the prognosis is not very favorable. You can get a chronic form of heart disease. With proper and timely treatment, the problem can be eliminated in a few weeks.
The disease can give complications to the liver. Coxsackieviruses are well established in this body. If herpangina is very severe, then liver failure may develop.
Prevention measures
In order not to get sick with herpes sore throat, the photo of the symptoms of which are presented in the article, you should take preventive measures:
- During the epidemic, you should not be inpublic places.
- Keep your immunity high.
- Throughout the illness (and this is about two weeks), the patient should be in a room that is often ventilated. he must also have separate dishes. This is done in order not to infect others.
- Since herpes sore throat can be transmitted by the fecal-oral route, hygiene also applies to preventive measures. Be sure to wash your hands after using the toilet and before eating, wash all fruits and vegetables.
- Wash baby's nipples, bottles and toys thoroughly.
- If your baby has snot or a cough, don't take him to kindergarten or school. This will keep other children from getting infected.
