Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about ear, nose and throat infections.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero tofinals.com slash E.N.T. Infections or in the infectious diseases section of the

zero to finals medicine book. So let's get straight into it. Tonsolitis refers to infection of the

tonsils. Otitis media refers to infection in the middle ear, rhinitis refers to inflammation in the nose,

and sinusitis refers to inflammation of the paranasal sinuses in the face.

Infections in the ear, nose and throat are most commonly caused by viruses

and they do not require or respond to antibiotics.

They usually resolve without treatment within one to three weeks.

Antibiotics are reserved for immunocompromise patients,

those with significant comorbidities, severe infections,

or infections that fail to resolve. The NICE guidelines are supportive of considering a delayed

prescription in the community where patients can collect antibiotics if the symptoms do not improve

or they get worse after three days.

Let's start by talking about bacteria. Bacterial tonsillitis, as opposed to viral tonsillitis,

is most commonly caused by Group A Streptococcus infections, mainly Streptoccus pyogens.

Otitis media, sinusitis and tonsillitis that's not caused by Group A strep are most commonly

caused by streptococcus pneumoniae.

Other causes of otitis media, sinusitis and tonsillitis include hemophilis influenza,

Moraxela, catarales, and staphlococcus aureus.

Let's talk about tonsillitis.

The centaur criteria can be used to estimate the probability

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