Bacteriological Study of Acute Follicular Tonsillitis

Bacteriological Study of Acute Follicular Tonsillitis in Patients Attending the ENT Outpatient Clinic of Assiut University Hospital

The objective of the study is to answer the following questions :-

1. Is there an actual failure rate in tonsillitis treatment with amoxicillin clavulanate ? If yes,
2. What is (are) the possible reason(s) to explain it in our locality ?

Tonsillitis is one of the most common diseases in the throat that occurs in the younger age group .

The predominant bacteria causing tonsillitis are group A b-haemolytic streptococci (GABHS), which are highly susceptible to the penicillin group of antibiotics.

It has been reported in the literature that the rate of penicillin failure has consistently increased from about 7% in the 1950s to almost 40% in the 2000s.

Authors propose many reasons to explain such failure rates e.g. the coexistence of oropharyngeal beta-lactamase producing bacteria .

Although there were no documented reports, it was observed that there are rising reports of failure in treatment of acute follicular tonsillitis by amoxicillin clavulanate.

Inclusion criteria:

patients with acute follicular tonsillitis neither younger than five years nor older than 60 years old.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Other causes of tonsillitis that do not cause suppuration .
2. Age below five , and above 60 years .
3. Patients who received antibiotic one week before presentation .
4. Immune compromised patients .
5. Patients with quinsy.