[Bacterial study in patients with chronic disease of the palatine tonsils]

At the Otorhinolaryngology Clinic in Novi Sad, 58 patients, from 2 to 53 years of age, with chronic palatine tonsillitis were bacteriologically examined. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated in most patients and was detected in 21 patients on the surface of the tonsil and in 25 patients at the place of a cut. Streptococcus pyogenes group A occurred only in 3 patients, group B in 1 patient which amounts to 5.17%, and 1.72%. The percentage of patients in whom rheumatism occurred was similar. The author points out the fact that there is a great disproportion between the number of patients who undergo surgery and number of complications at distant organs and appeals to reduction of indications for tonsillectomy to a reasonable level.