Tonsils are red, swollen, bumpy & have white spots on them. no fever, just chills & difficulty swallowing. i had a throat culture done & its not strep?

Pharyngitis: The source could be viral or bacterial still. Try to hydrate as much as possible. If fever > 48 hrs, if vomiting, consider trial of antibiotics.

Cultureor rapid test: If you had the rapid test, where results come back in less than 15 minutes, that can be wrong, if negative, 10-30% of the time. You need a real culture for strep which can take 48-72 hours. If that is what you had, get checked for mononucleosis. Clearly, if you are still having chills and trouble swallowing due pain after 3 days or you are getting worse and cannot swallow because tonsils huge-ER!

Other possibilities: Depending on your age, sexual history, type to tests done, and other factors, considerations include Arcanobacterium hemolyticum, as well as gonorrhea, or other viral infection such as EBV or CMV (viruses causing mono) or even primary HIV infection if you have been sexually active without using protection recently. In the meantime, Of swallowing worsens, contact your doctor or go to the ED.