Misdiagnosis of Sore throat

Misdiagnosis and Sore throat

Sinusitis is overdiagnosed: There is a tendency to give a diagnosis of sinusitis, when the condition is really a harmless complication of another infection, such as a common cold.

Whooping cough often undiagnosed: Although most children in the Western world have been immunized against whooping cough (also called "pertussis"), this protection wears off after about 15 years. Thus, any teen or adult with a persistent cough may actually have whooping cough. This is particularly dangerous for babies too young to be vaccinated, and any un-vaccinated children. Whooping cough can be fatal to an infant. The cough symptoms of whooping cough is usually productive initially, but then becomes a persistent dry cough, lasting up to 100 days. Elderly grandparents may also be a reservoir of undiagnosed whooping cough.

Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often fail to be diagnosed early. Some of the chronic lung diseases with diagnostic difficulties include asthma (perhaps surprisingly), COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, mesothelioma, smoker's cough, AIDS-related respiratory conditions (see AIDS), chronic pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases. Rare possibilities include diseases like psittacosis (bird-related lung infection). See other types of chronic lung diseases.

Rash of Dengue can be misdiagnosed: Dengue fever also known as 'breakbone fever' is a mosquito borne viral infection. The most common clinical presentation is that of severe headache, eye pain, fever, joint pain and the maculopapular rubelliform rash which can lead to a chance of misdiagnosis. There are several conditions from which dengue has to differentiated some of them being Leptospirosis, measles, malaria, yellow fever, meningoencephalitis etc. No specific treatment of dengue is available. Early institution of supportive treatment is the key to management of patients with dengue of all forms.

Painful throat- look for infectious mononucleosis: Infectious mononucleosis must be considered in 15- 25 year old patients presenting with a painful throat. The patient presents with slow onset of malaise, fever, headache sore throat and rash. It can be misdiagnosed as HIV primary infection, tonsillitis, viral hepatitis and leukaemia. Paul Bunnell test is one of the important lab tests commonly done along with white cell count and blood smear. There is no specific treatment and supportive measures will suffice. It usually runs an uncomplicated course.

More about Misdiagnosis

• Causes of Sore throat
• Misdiagnosis Overview
• How Common is Misdiagnosis?
• Over-Diagnosed Diseases
• Under-Diagnosed Diseases
• Types of Misdiagnosis
• Wrong Type Misdiagnosis
• Why Does Misdiagnosis Occur?
• Difficult Diseases to Diagnose
• More premium medical articles ...

 » Next page: DYSPHAGIA (Algorithmic Diagnosis of Symptoms and Signs)

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