You know that scratchy feeling that worsens when you try to swallow. Sometimes a raw throat is the first indication of the common cold or other respiratory infection. Other agents can annoy the throat, too: hot liquids, chemicals, smoke, allergies, postnasal drip from sinusitis, and even sleeping with your mouth open.
Viruses—especially those associated with the common cold—are the most common cause of throat infection. Usually, other respiratory symptoms, such as runny nose and sneezing, come with the throat pain. Viral sore throat should get resolved on its own within a few days.
Another viral illness that begins with a sore throat is mononucleosis, a condition that characteristically strikes teens and young adults. In addition to an extremely sore throat, signs and symptoms include severe fatigue, malaise, reduced appetite, chills, fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, enlarged spleen, and sensitivity to light. The Epstein-Barr virus causes it. It spreads from close contact with contaminated saliva or respiratory mucus.
Throat can also be infected by Bacteria, especially Streptococcus pyogenes, the cause of strep throat. The beginning of sore throat is abrupt, with pain on swallowing, tender and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, fever, headache, and possibly nausea and vomiting (especially in children). If you are not suffering from a cold too, symptoms like a runny nose, sneezing, and cough are absent. Doctors treat strep throat with antibiotics.