Early symptoms of herpetic pharyngitis

Herpetic pharyngitis is a relatively serious disease and patients need to be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. If not diagnosed and treated, it will cause throat lesions and even serious cancerous reactions. Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment of herpetic pharyngitis must be targeted and cannot be treated in a perfunctory manner. Herpangina may be somewhat similar to laryngitis, and some people cannot make a timely diagnosis. So, what are the early symptoms of herpetic pharyngitis?

1. Clinical manifestations

The disease has an epidemic trend and is common in infants and young children, especially in summer and autumn.

1. Symptoms

The onset is acute, with symptoms such as high fever, sore throat, irritability, drooling, anorexia, vomiting, general malaise, difficulty swallowing, mental depression and convulsions. If this disease occurs alone, there are often no systemic symptoms. Infants and young children often cry and make noise during feedings and are unwilling to eat.

2. Physical signs

Physical examination may reveal congestion in the pharynx. Several to dozens of grayish-white blisters measuring 2 to 4 mm in size may be seen on the mucosa of the pharyngeal palate arch, soft palate, and uvula. They are surrounded by red halos and rupture after 1 to 2 days to form small ulcers covered with a light yellow or white pseudomembrane. Herpes can also occur in other areas of the mouth. There may be submandibular lymphadenopathy with tenderness. The course of the disease is about 1 week.

2. Inspection

The peripheral blood leukocyte count of virus-infected patients is normal or low, the neutrophil count is decreased, and the lymphocyte count is relatively increased. Virus isolation and serological examination can identify the pathogen. In recent years, immunofluorescence, immunoenzyme and molecular biology techniques can make early diagnosis of the pathogen.

If there is a concurrent bacterial infection, the peripheral blood white blood cell count may increase, the neutrophil count may increase, and pathogenic bacteria can be detected by culture of throat swabs before using antibacterial drugs. C-reactive protein and procalcitonin can help identify concurrent bacterial infections.

3. Diagnosis

It is generally not difficult to diagnose based on clinical manifestations.

IV. Treatment

1. General treatment

Inform the parents of the child about the self-limitation of the disease and the purpose of treatment to prevent cross infection and complications. Pay attention to rest, ventilate the room, drink plenty of water, eat liquid food, supplement vitamins, and perform nebulizer inhalation treatment, etc.

2. Anti-infection treatment

(1) Antiviral drugs that can be tried include ribavirin (viraviril), which can be taken orally or intravenously, or ribavirin aerosol can be sprayed topically in the mouth. Some Chinese herbal preparations such as Shuanghuanglian, Isatis root, Qingyan Chongji and other heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines also have certain antiviral effects.

(2) Antimicrobial drugs: This disease is a viral infection and generally no antibiotics are used.

3. Symptomatic treatment

(1) For high fever, you can take acetaminophen or ibuprofen orally, or use physical cooling methods such as cold compresses or warm water baths.

(2) Patients with febrile seizures can be treated with sedation and anticonvulsant medication.

(3) For sore throat, you can take throat lozenges sublingually.