Tonsillitis (cont.)

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Medical Author:

Joseph Lauro, MD

Coauthor:

Erik D Barton, MD, MS

Medical Editor:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Is Tonsillitis Contagious?

Tonsillitis is contagious. Tonsillitis is spread mainly by droplets from direct contact (kissing) or airborne droplets (cough).

Viral caused tonsillitis is often contagious for about 7–10 days while untreated bacterial caused disease may be contagious for about 2 weeks.

However, bacterial caused tonsillitis can be treated with antibiotics and the patient usually is not contagious 24–48 hours after starting antibiotics.

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Glossary

Tonsillitis Topic Guide

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See the Entire Tonsillitis Topic Guide »

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