Diagnosis

The doctor usually diagnoses a purulent throat by looking at the inflamed area. As a rule, the purulent area is accompanied by a distinct reddening of the surrounding tissue. This circumstance is always easy to recognize, provided that it is clearly visible.

However, if the purulent area is in a position that is not directly visible, ear, nose and throat doctors can use small mirrors to look even deeper into the throat. A further step towards a reliable diagnosis would be to take a smear from the purulent area of the neck. This sample can then be tested for the causative pathogen and the antibiotic therapy can be adjusted accordingly.

Associated symptoms

The accompanying symptoms can be broadly diversified. In most cases, pain is one of the main symptoms of a purulent neck. Furthermore, a purulent throat is often associated with a disease of the respiratory tract, such as bronchitis, but in more serious cases this can also be an indication of a solid pneumonia.

Hoarseness describes another possible accompanying symptom. In this case, the inflammation also affects the vocal folds and prevents them from being fully opened. The pitch therefore shifts noticeably, since not as much air as normally passes through the glottis.

In addition, a foreign body sensation can occur in the neck. On the one hand swollen parts of the neck are responsible for this, on the other hand pus drops that have come loose in the neck. Furthermore, inflammations of the throat are often the result of or messenger for an infestation of the paranasal sinuses.

Thus, sinusitis can also occur, often caused by the same pathogens that are also responsible for pus in the throat. The pain is a “basic symptom” of the existing inflammation. The immune system uses certain messenger substances in this inflamed region, which on the one hand attract further defence cells, but on the other hand also ensure that the sensitive nerve fibres that mediate the pain are stimulated and thus react much faster to pain stimuli than normal.

As soon as the inflammation subsides, the pain will also disappear again. A painless purulent sore throat occurs rather rarely. As already explained in the above section, each inflammatory reaction inevitably causes a massively increased sensitivity to pain.

If the inflammation is really purulent, it should be clarified medically in any case. The swallowing problems usually have two different causes. On the one hand, every inflammation is also accompanied by a swelling of the tissue.

In the already rather narrow neck region, this inevitably leads to the food that has been ingested being pressed past the narrowed area with greater force. The second point concerns the pain that usually occurs. These ensure that the patient perceives his swallowing process more consciously than usual.

Swallowing difficulties without pain could, however, be an indication of a tumorous event and should be presented to the patient’s family doctor or, even better, an ENT specialist. Bad breath can be traced back to the bacteria responsible for the formation of pus. In addition to the normal food components, they also partially use cells of the oral mucosa to feed themselves.

During digestion, waste products of the bacteria are produced, which have an odour. The same principle is also hidden behind bad breath after the consumption of milk-containing food or the body odor after sporting activity. But also the pus itself can cause a sweetish to slightly putrid halitosis.