What Causes Swollen Tonsils?

The tonsils are a part of the immune system in a person's body. The tonsils protect the body from germs, viruses and bacteria that try to invade the body through the mouth or nose. The tonsils may become infected or inflamed.

Tonsillitis

• Tonsillitis is an infection of the tonsils. When the throat area becomes infected by bacteria, it may cause tonsillitis or strep throat. When these infections are reoccurred, it may cause the tonsils to be constantly swollen.

Sneezing and Coughing

• Swollen tonsils can be passed from one person to another through the act of sneezing, coughing and passage of nasal mucous. This is quite common between young children because they are constantly sharing things and passing bacteria back and fourth.

Symptoms

• Symptoms of swollen tonsils can include such things as a fever, redness of the tonsil area or the throat, a yellowish mucous coating on the tonsils, pain while swallowing, bad breath or swollen glands in the neck.

Treatment

• Swollen tonsils can be treated depending on the symptoms. Natural treatments include gargling hot salt water, drinking lots of fluids and resting. If more treatment is needed, you may need to take antibiotics to kill the bacteria causing the infection.

Warning

• If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, try to monitor the situation. If the situation gets worse with natural treatments or you are in severe pain, contact a health care provider immediately.