How Do You Get E. Coli – And How to Prevent It
Tonsillitis In Adults: Symptoms, Treatment, And Recovery
Tonsillitis is more common in children and teenagers, but adults can get it too. In adults, tonsillitis may last around a week, but sometimes, symptoms persist for longer or can be recurrent.
Both viral and bacterial infections can cause tonsillitis, which refers to inflammation of the tonsils.
Keep reading to learn more about tonsillitis in adults, including the risk factors and treatments.
When adults come down with tonsillitis due to a bacterial infection, group A Streptococcus is the usual culprit. People sometimes refer to this illness as strep throat. Its onset is usually more sudden than that of viral infections, and people do not typically have a cough, which is frequently present with a viral infection.
Other potential indications of bacterial tonsillitis are:
Children and teenagers are more likely than adults to get tonsillitis, including that due to group A Streptococcus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 1 in 10 adults with a sore throat actually have strep throat.
As tonsillitis is more common in children and also very contagious, the factors that place adults at higher risk of developing it include:
Tonsillitis usually gets better with several days of self-care and rest at home.
If it is not improving, it is getting worse, or the symptoms are so severe that the individual is not able to eat or drink as necessary, it is a good idea to see a doctor.
As most cases of tonsillitis in adults, as with children, are due to viruses, rest and self-care at home are usually the only treatments necessary. Commonly recommended self-care practices include:
However, if testing reveals that tonsillitis is due to a bacterial infection, a doctor may prescribe antibiotic therapy. In situations where it is not clear whether bacteria are the cause, some doctors recommend a strategy of delayed antibiotics, with individuals taking medication if they meet certain criteria.
Penicillin and amoxicillin are the antibiotics that doctors prescribe most often to adults with bacterial tonsillitis. People who are allergic to penicillin antibiotics will receive a suitable substitute.
Using antibiotics, when appropriate, can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risks of complications, such as rheumatic fever.
Most cases of tonsillitis in adults resolve within a week, but for some people, the inflammation and discomfort last much longer.
Some people also experience frequently recurring bouts of tonsillitis. A doctor may recommend that a person undergo the removal of their tonsils, called a tonsillectomy, if they have:
The tonsils' main function is to help prevent infection, but in adults, this role is diminished. Therefore, if someone seems to be more prone to infections instead, removal may be the best option.
Although a tonsillectomy will put an end to an adult's problems with recurring tonsillitis, researchers have found that there is uncertainty among healthcare providers regarding the most cost effective stage of the disease to pursue the procedure for adults.
Pain is common after a tonsillectomy. Just as children should stay home from school for 2 weeks or so after surgery, adults need to give themselves and their body a chance to rest and recover.
Although swallowing might be difficult after the procedure, experts recommend as rapid a return to solid foods as possible.
Tonsillitis may be a common condition in children, but it can also affect adults.
Viral infections cause most cases of tonsillitis in adults and children, and at-home treatment with rest, fluids, and OTC pain relievers is usually sufficient.
However, bacteria do cause some cases of adult tonsillitis, many of which are due to strep throat. Adults with this type of tonsillitis can benefit from seeing a doctor and taking antibiotics.
Recurrent Tonsillitis: Causes, Treatment, And Prevention
Recurrent tonsillitis is a tonsil infection that returns frequently, even with treatment. There may be a genetic component to why some people experience recurrent or chronic infections.
Tonsillitis occurs when the two glands that sit in the back of your throat, called the tonsils, become swollen and painful due to an infection.
Most often, a viral infection, such as the common cold, is responsible for tonsillitis. But bacterial infections, particularly from Streptococcus pyogenes, can also be the cause.
Recurrent tonsillitis doesn't have a clearly defined number of episodes. It generally means that the infection returns frequently, three to five times or more per year, even with treatment such as antibiotics.
Read on to learn about the potential causes of recurrent tonsillitis and treatment options.
What's the difference between recurrent tonsillitis and chronic tonsillitis?While these terms are sometimes confused and used interchangeably, recurrent tonsillitis means that the tonsil infection returns frequently, even with treatment. Chronic means that the infection and symptoms are ever-present.
When it comes to recurrent bacterial tonsillitis, researchers have found some clues as to why some people are more likely to keep getting infections. Their research centers on genetic components that affect the immune system.
A 2019 study looked at tissue samples from 66 children who had their tonsils removed after having recurrent strep infections. Researchers found an unusual immune response to the strep bacteria. Essentially, the strep bacteria tricked the children's immune systems into attacking immune cells that would normally fight off the infection.
Researchers also found that there was a genetic connection to this immune response, as many of the children had a family history of recurrent tonsillitis.
Both children and adults can have recurrent tonsillitis, but children are often exposed to more germs, which makes them more susceptible to infections. In addition, a 2018 study found that recurrent tonsillitis most often affects people assigned female at birth.
Recurrent tonsillitis may also occur in children with:
If you're someone who gets recurrent tonsillitis, you likely want to prevent a repeat infection. Prevention recommendations include:
As research draws more connections between genetics and the immune response to strep, it may become even more clear why some people are more likely to get recurrent infections despite their best prevention efforts.
Future research may also find new treatments and prevention strategies for those who are prone to recurrent tonsillitis. For example, scientists are currently looking to develop a vaccine that can prevent strep infections.
How tonsillitis is treated depends on a couple of factors: whether it's caused by a viral or bacterial infection and whether it's a recurrent infection.
A tonsillectomy, surgical removal of the tonsils, is typically recommended for people with recurrent tonsillitis.
Tonsillectomies are also typically recommended for those with:
Recurrent tonsillitis means you frequently get infections that cause your tonsils to become red, swollen, and painful.
Researchers are beginning to understand why certain people are more susceptible to repeat infections, and it has something to do with an abnormal immune response tied to certain genes.
When recurrent tonsillitis starts to affect your quality of life, surgery to remove the tonsils — called a tonsillectomy — is usually recommended.
A Microbe From Poo Suppresses Bacterial Infection
Researchers identified a gut microbe that can suppress Clostridium difficile infection, suggesting that bacteria could be used as targeted therapy for recurrent infections.
Image credit:iStock, ClaudioVentrellaBacteria in the human gut microbiome maintain a delicate balance, where beneficial bacteria keep potentially harmful microbes in check. Antibiotic treatment can disrupt this harmony, allowing pathogens like Clostridium difficile to wreak havoc, causing diarrhea, stomach cramps, and colon inflammation.1 Antibiotics also deplete the healthy microbiome, which paves the way for reinfection. Infection recurrences are difficult to treat, with one recurrence increasing the risk of repeated reinfections.2
In the past decade, researchers have shown that transplanting fecal material from healthy donors can prevent recurrent C. Difficile infections.3 However, this procedure is not without risks.
"To a certain extent, a fecal transplant is almost like going to the pharmacist where they take a little bit of everything off the shelf and put it into one pill, assuming that something will probably help," said Jordan Bisanz, a biochemist and molecular biologist at The Pennsylvania State University, in a press release. "But we don't know 100 percent what's in there."
Continue reading below...
Microbiology
Curious Cure: Human Waste
Read More
Now, in research published in Cell Host & Microbe, Bisanz and his colleagues have identified which gut bacteria can suppress C. Difficile infections, laying the foundation for probiotic-based strategies as an alternative to antibiotics and fecal microbiota transplants.4
Bisanz and his team started out by investigating C. Difficile's "friends," microbes that coexist with it, and its "enemies," those that may suppress the bacterium. They performed a meta-analysis of previously published studies containing information about C. Difficile load in people alongside gut microbiome sequencing data. With the help of machine learning, they identified 25 bacterial strains that cooccurred with C. Difficile, and 37 strains that were negatively correlated with its presence.
The researchers then created a community of bacteria by coculturing the 37 strains negatively linked to C. Difficile. Treating a C. Difficile culture with this synthetic version of a fecal microbiota transplant (sFMT) reduced its growth. When the researchers exposed sFMT-colonized mice to C. Difficile, the animals had significantly less weight loss and toxin abundance compared to control mice that received bacteria-free media.
To investigate whether a sFMT protected mice from antibiotic-induced C. Difficile reinfection, the researchers treated mice with an antibiotic, infected them with C. Difficile, and then treated them with another antibiotic before subjecting them to a sFMT. Compared to controls, sFMT-treated mice showed delayed infection relapse and reduced disease severity.
Continue reading below...
Microbiology
An Antibiotic That Distinguishes Friend from Foe
Read More
The researchers sought to identify the pathways through which sFMT may suppress C. Difficile. Compared to mice that received human-derived fecal microbiota, those treated with sFMT exhibited higher levels of 5-aminovalerate, a metabolite produced when some microbes ferment proline, an amino acid important for C. Difficile growth and virulence.5 Consistent with this, the researchers observed reduced proline levels in sFMT-colonized mice.
Removing known proline fermenters from the sFMT abolished its protective activity on C. Difficile infections and resulted in severe disease symptoms in mice, establishing that proline scavenging by sFMT suppresses C. Difficile. The researchers found that the bacterium Peptostreptococcus anaerobius made up a majority of the synthetic microbial community members that ferment proline.
C. Difficile-exposed mice treated with P. Anaerobius had reduced disease severity. The effect was comparable to what was observed in mice treated with human-derived fecal microbiota transplants, suggesting that a single bacterium could help treat C. Difficile infection. Since P. Anaerobius is an opportunistic pathogen, the researchers noted that other microbes with similar features could be explored as potential treatments.
"The idea was to take our understanding of basic microbiome sciences and turn it into precision-like therapies that take what we've learned from fecal transplants but doesn't actually require a fecal transplant," said Bisanz. "The goal is to develop the microbes as targeted drugs and therapies."
Continue reading below...
Genetics
Engineering the Microbiome: CRISPR Leads the Way
Read More
Comments
Post a Comment