On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• No links available

See, Play and Learn

• No links available

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Your throat is a tube that carries food to your esophagus and air to your windpipe and larynx (also called the voice box). The technical name for the throat is pharynx.

You can have a sore throat for many reasons. Often, colds and flu cause sore throats. Other causes can include:

• Allergies
• Mononucleosis
• Smoking
• Strep throat
• Tonsillitis

Treatment depends on the cause. Sucking on lozenges, drinking lots of liquids, and gargling may ease the pain. Over-the-counter pain relievers can also help, but children should not take aspirin.

Start Here

• Sore Throat (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Sore Throat Basics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
• Sore Throat: When to See a Doctor (American Osteopathic Association)
• Sore Throats (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)

Symptoms

• Sore Throat: Symptoms and Causes (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Throat Problems (Symptom Checker) (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Strep A Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Strep Throat, Sore Throat or Tonsillitis: What's the Difference? (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Sore Throat: Diagnosis and Treatment (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Sore, Scratchy Throat? Soothing Pain from Illness or Allergy (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pharyngitis (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Streptococcus A Rapid Diagnostic Testing in England Community Pharmacies: Clinical and...
• Article: Mechanism of Action and Efficacy of Wu-Hua-Yan-Xiao in the Treatment of...
• Article: Trends in Group A Streptococcus Pharyngitis and Co-Infection with Severe Acute...
• Sore Throat -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Pharynx Anatomy (National Cancer Institute)

Find an Expert

• American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery
• Find an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist) (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Children

• What to Do About a Sore Throat (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• When Is a Sore Throat a More Serious Infection? (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Pharyngitis - sore throat (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pharyngitis - viral (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish