My boyfriend had a cold the past week. He did not use any steroid based nasal sprays, but he did use a cold remedy which contains zinc. About two days ago, he had a white patch right next to his tonsil. He started to gargle with salt water and it has dissolved or gone away considerably. Now, there are a bunch of little white dots where the big patch was. Slowly, (as he is gargling with salt water frequently) these white dots are going away also. Could this be oral thrush? If this is oral thrush could it be caused by the cold remedy. Please help

Thrush is a yeast infection which often affects the mouth, as well as many other portions of one's body (e.g. the vagina). It is pretty common and does not necessarily mean that something more serious is going on. Women often get these vaginal yeast infections when they take any antibiotics. This is because the antibiotics upset the normal balance of healthy bacteria which typically live in our body. Did the salt water help your boyfriend? It's hard to know, perhaps yes, or perhaps he was going to get over the thrush anyway. Patients with HIV infection are more prone to thrush, particularly patients with low CD4 cell counts. However, most folks who get thrush are not infected by HIV.