[Tonsillitis today. Epidemiologic review. Clinical correlates. Therapeutic impact]

A prospective study was conducted in 216 patients with ulceration of throat and 100 controls. Bacteriology showed, in the low percentage of case with positive results, the classical distribution of germs generally identified from throat swabs, with predominance of haemolytic streptococci AB and associated fusospirilla. Haemophilus influenzae was very rarely isolated (1%) and immunofluorescence tests for Chlamydia trachomatis in the pharyngeal exudate were always negative, in both patients and controls. These findings confirm utility of Penicillin V as single therapeutic agent in ulcerated throat. Correlations between clinical findings and between these and bacteriology results demonstrated that clinical examination failed to provide data contributive to the establishment of an aetiological diagnosis and therefore to treatment, which, in the absence of complementary examinations, must remain empirical.