Tonsillitis is a common disorder that mainly affects children from the age of 5 to 15 years old, according to Dr. Paul Weinberger of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the Medical College of Georgia in Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery. Tonsillitis is the medical term for the inflammation of the palatine tonsils, lymph nodes located in the upper part of the throat. Their job is to filter out micro-organisms but when they become overwhelmed, it can result in inflammation.
Streptococcus Pyogenes
Streptococcus pyogenes is a gram positive cocci bacterium. Microbiologists classify bacteria based upon the results of a staining method called a gram stain. S. pyogenes is gram positive because it holds onto the second stain in the gram stain process, and is called cocci because it has a round shape. This bacteria not only causes tonsillitis, but pharyngitis or the inflammation of the pharynx, rheumatic fever, cellulitis or skin inflammation, and glomerulonephritis or the inflammation of the capillaries in the kidneys, according to Dr. Warren Levinson, professor of microbiology at the University of California in Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
Haemophilus Influenzae
Haemophilus influenzae is also a bacterium, but it is a gram negative rod. This bacteria does not hold onto the second stain, and it is shaped like a rod. According to Levinson's "Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology," H. influenzae was once the main cause of meningitis in small children but is no longer, thanks to a vaccine. Meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges membrane covering the brain. H. influenzae does still cause respiratory infections in children and adults, and can cause a bacterial infection in the bloodstream of children, otherwise known as sepsis.
Chronic Tonsillitis
In Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery, Weinberger describes chronic tonsillitis as the condition where someone has tonsillitis for longer than three months. He writes that current studies show that this can be due to an infection caused by H. influenzae, or to bacteria named Staphylococcus aureus, Actinomyces israelii, anaerobic bacteria, an infection caused by several bacteria, or to bacteria that are drug-resistant. Anaerobic bacteria can grow with little or no oxygen. This is why the treatment of chronic tonsillitis should start with antibiotics that can kill different types of bacteria.
Risk Factors
Most cases of tonsillitis occur in children who range from 5 years old to 15 years old. As such, a risk factor for tonsillitis is simply being at a young age. In addition, children attend school and while they are at school, they are in close contact with other children. They have frequent exposure to bacterial and viral infections which can result in tonsillitis. In the October 2005 issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Jeffrey Blumer explains the risk of chronic tonsillitis when the treatment does not eliminate bacteria resistant to the medication. He says that penicillin now fails to eliminate approximately 30 percent of S. pyogenes tonsillopharyngitis, infections of the tonsils and pharynx.
References
- "Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery"; Gerard Doherty, M.D.; 2010
- Pediatrics: Explaining the Poor Bacteriologic Eradication Rate of Single-Dose Ceftriaxone in Group A Streptococcal Tonsillopharyngitis
- "Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology"; Warren Levinson, M.D., Ph.D.; 2008
