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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Is The Treatment For Tonsillitis?

My daughter (age 21) was just diagnosed with tonsillitis today and prescribed penicillin by her ENT. Two weeks ago her primary care did a strep test (neg). And prescribed nystatin. It cleared up then returned prompting the visit today. She also had an endoscopy of her esophagus approx 4 weeks ago. Wondering if there could be any connection?
Thu, 18 Sep 2014
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ENT Specialist,  's  Response
Hi. From what I can make of this brief history is that your daughter was treated presumably for a fungal infection possibly oral candidiasis and hence the prescription of Nystatin. This also explains the need for the endoscopy to rule out the fungal infection from the esophagus.

The current tonsillitis (? strep or some bacterial) could be related to her antifungal management. Bacterial and fungi usually are symbiotic to each other and tend to help each other out in infections. Since the candidiasis is easy to pick due to whitish spots in the throat, the treatment with an antifungal was initiated. The bacterial load at the time may not have been large enough to show up on a strep test. Once the antifungals started to act she must have had transient recovery until the bacteria continued to grow and are now developing the tonsillitis, which I am hoping will resolve with the penicillin. The endoscopy was carried out too long ago for it to be related to the tonsillitis diagnosed today.

You can expect your daughter to recover in a weeks time. Do let me know if I can help with any other questions.





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What Is The Treatment For Tonsillitis?

Hi. From what I can make of this brief history is that your daughter was treated presumably for a fungal infection possibly oral candidiasis and hence the prescription of Nystatin. This also explains the need for the endoscopy to rule out the fungal infection from the esophagus. The current tonsillitis (? strep or some bacterial) could be related to her antifungal management. Bacterial and fungi usually are symbiotic to each other and tend to help each other out in infections. Since the candidiasis is easy to pick due to whitish spots in the throat, the treatment with an antifungal was initiated. The bacterial load at the time may not have been large enough to show up on a strep test. Once the antifungals started to act she must have had transient recovery until the bacteria continued to grow and are now developing the tonsillitis, which I am hoping will resolve with the penicillin. The endoscopy was carried out too long ago for it to be related to the tonsillitis diagnosed today. You can expect your daughter to recover in a weeks time. Do let me know if I can help with any other questions.