Using vinegar for curing a sore throat follows from the postulate that vinegar is an antibacterial agent and therefore can actually cure a bacterial infection in the throat. Clinical studies and experience have however shown that there is nothing that better than a warm water gargle to soothe the throat. In fact the use of apple cider vinegar is quite dangerous as you could end up burning your esophagus and permanently damaging it. It would in fact make more sense to simply use hot water and salt to gargle instead as this will not leave you with any permanent scars.
Sore throats are a result of a bacterial or viral infection. There are some infections that remain in the upper respiratory tract and do not go down. This is because of the difference in temperature between the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The lower respiratory tract is at the regular body temperature while the upper respiratory tract is a few degrees cooler because of the movement of air. For some bacterial and viral strains this is the perfect temperature and anything higher, as in the lower respiratory tract, could lead to the death of the pathogens. When performing a gargle with warm water and salt, the same principle is basically at work. Water is heated to a temperature that is above the body temperature and is allowed to wallow in the throat, thereby raising the surrounding temperature and killing the pathogens.
The other way of dealing with a sore throat is to replicate the effects of antibiotics using herbal substitutes as well. A large part of dealing with a sore throat also involves tackling the problem of inflammation that causes pain and swelling. For this also there are remedies. The first step is to start consuming at least one bulb of garlic a day for the next one week. Garlic contains a natural antibiotic called allacin. The next step is to reduce the inflammation and this can be done by consuming lots of ginger tea laced with some feverfew. Both of these quell inflammation and feverishness. These options need to be used along with the regular gargle as described already. A sore throat is something that should not last longer than a week though in some infections there can be some damage to tissue that could take some time to resolve. After a viral infection, a period of fatigue sometimes follows and it is important that you consciously push yourself to a completely active life a little bit every day.
answered by M W