Tonsillar Microbial Flora: Comparison of Recurrent Tonsillitis and Normal Tonsils

Tonsillar microbial flora was studied in cultures of tonsillar core specimens from 34 patients tonsillectomized due to recurrent group A streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis (n=17) or sleep apnoea (n=17). Patients in the sleep apnoea subgroup, who had no history of recurrent tonsillitis and manifested no tonsillar hypertrophy at ENT examination, served as controls. Tonsillar core specimens were cultured for semi-quantitative estimation of growth of aerobic, anaerobic and facultative organisms. The recurrent tonsillitis and apnoea subgroups did not differ significantly in the mean number of isolates per patient, either of aerobic spp. (3.8 vs. 4.3) or anaerobic spp. (5.2 vs. 4.7). Nor did the two subgroups differ significantly in the proportion of patients whose specimens manifested beta-lactamase producers (71% vs. 59%), in the isolation frequency of viridans (alpha) streptococci, or in the occurrence of semi-quantitative growth estimates of 3-4+ for aerobic, anaerobic or beta-lactamase-producing spp. Thus, ...