While the symptoms of bacterial and viral tonsillitis are similar, the treatment is different.  Bacterial tonsillitis will be treated with antibiotics. The most common antibiotics used for tonsillitis are penicillin, clindamycin, and cephalosporin. These are usually taken orally for 10 days. It is very important to take the full course of antibiotics to ensure that the infection doesn’t return or spread to other parts of your body. Antibiotics do not work on viral infections. If you have tonsillitis caused by a virus, reliving the symptoms is all that can be done. To relieve the symptoms you can do most of the same things that you can do for a cold, get plenty of rest, drink plenty of warm liquids, and take over-the-counter pain relievers along with throat lozenges. You can also gargle with warm salt water to alleviate the sore throat.