If your throat hurts, how to understand if it is a bacterial infection or a viral infection, and is an antibiotic needed?

To do this, you need to take the phone, dial the number of your clinic and call a doctor. And he will tell you to drink an antibiotic, and for one how much to drink and in what mode.

Any other methods of self-prescribing antibiotics are harmful to health and society.

There is no such a clear border, they say a bacterial infection is needed, a viral infection is not needed. In principle, a large number of microorganisms constantly live in the throat, if we take a culture from the throat for sterility in a healthy person - we will find a lot of things there and scare the patient, but in reality this almost never requires treatment. For simplicity, in order not to tire with medical details, I would divide all cases of sore throat into those associated with streptococcus, and not related to it. And here, with certain reservations, we can draw parallels: if the pain is caused by a streptococcal (bacterial) infection, then an antibiotic is needed, and if any other, then no.

It should be understood that many healthy people are carriers of streptococcus in the pharynx, and if they have a sore throat, this does not mean that streptococcus is to blame. It’s like catching a recidivist thief near a newly broken window of a jewelry store: yes, he is the first under suspicion, and yet his guilt must be proven in an honest and objective investigation.

Therefore, it is important to observe the rule: first a clinically justified suspicion for streptococcus, and only then tests for it (culture from the throat or rapid tests). All these subtleties are difficult for the patient to take into account himself, so it is better not to self-medicate, but to trust the doctor.