If swallowing hurts enough that drooling occurs, you should go to a hospital's emergency department. Difficulty breathing from a sore throat can also be a symptom of a more serious illness. Significant dehydration associated with inability to drink fluids is often best treated at the hospital.
Because doctor's offices vary in their ability to treat serious conditions in the office or see people on an urgent basis, you might want to call your doctor to get advice on whether you should come to the office or go to the emergency department. Keep in mind that urgent care centers are generally poorly equipped for treatment of serious conditions.
Treatment of pain is often the number 1 priority if you have a sore throat.
As with other illness, you should contact your doctor if you become more ill despite treatment. Sometimes, determining whether a condition became worse because of the natural course of the illness or because of a side effect of the medication you are taking can be difficult. (For example, both the infection causing a sore throat and a reaction to medication can cause nausea.)
Avoiding close contact with ill people can help you from getting a throat infection. Cold viruses appear to be more readily transmitted than streptococcal infections. Only about 25% of family members exposed to strep develop strep throat. Usually a person with strep throat becomes noninfectious within 24 hours after the first antibiotic dose. The incubation period (the time between exposure to strep germs and onset of illness) is usually 2-5 days. Children should stay home from school and day care during infectious periods.
Most sore throats go away with or without treatment. Although rare, complications of strep throat such as rheumatic fever, poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis, and epiglottitis can cause serious illness or death. When you dread every swallow, however, any treatment that gives relief is looked upon with great favor