Most sore throats are nuisances rather than serious matters. Sore throats accompanied by a fever and difficulty swallowing are another matter and should be seen by a health professional. The most common bacterial cause is thought to be Group A streptococcus, but a study of college students has found other bacteria to be more common.
Researchers took throat swabs from 312 college students who had gone to the Student Health Clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with an acute sore throat. They also swabbed the throats of 180 students without a sore throat. The swabs were analyzed for the presence of four bacteria. They found that 20.5% of the ill students had an infection with Fusobacterium necrophorum compared to a bit over 9% of the ones with no symptoms. Group A strep bacteria were found in only 10.3% of patients and 1.1% of the healthy students, while Group C/G strep was found in 9% of patients and nearly 4% of health students.
F. necrophorum infection was found about twice as often as Group A strep, but the signs and symptoms of both were very similar. Testing for strep yields a negative result if the infection is actually F. necrophorum.
The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. It was accompanied by an editorial noting that physicians should be aware of other bacterial causes of sore throats, but that treatment should not be needless complicated. Antibiotics may be needed for sore throats with a fever, difficulty swallowing, and swollen tonsils, but many sore throats are caused by viruses, for which antibiotics are useless.
Most sore throats go away on their own and medical attention should be sought only if it does not get better within 4 or 5 days.
F. necrophorum infection can be treated to penicillin. In very severe cases of F. necrophorum, a rare condition called Lemierre's syndrome can set in. In this condition, an abscess forms that can spread the infection into the bloodstream and elsewhere in the body.
