A viral or bacterial infection, such as strep throat, can cause tonsillitis. Most of the time, the disease goes away on its own. However, this can sometimes lead to complications requiring medical attention. Some symptoms of tonsillitis may also resemble those of more serious conditions, such as Ludwig’s angina or epiglottitis.
If you have tonsillitis that does not improve on its own with home management or seems to be recurring, see your doctor or health care professional to see if you need other treatment.
The most notable risk of tonsillitis is that it can make you sicker and sicker, says James Clark, MBBCh, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. “If you have a real bacterial infection in your tonsils, it works like any other bacterial infection,” he says.
If bacterial infections don’t go away on their own, they can continue to get worse and spread throughout the body. The risks are incredibly low, but that’s why you should see your doctor if tonsillitis doesn’t go away on its own within a week, adds Dr. Clark.
Here are some other complications that can result from tonsillitis. Note that they are more common in people who suffer from recurrent tonsillitis or when it becomes chronic.
