The effect of previous antibiotic therapy on the bacteriology of the tonsils in children

The bacteriology of the tonsillar surface and core in 30 children undergoin g tonsillectomy was studied. Antibiotics taken in the six months before sur gery were recorded. Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus were t he commonest isolates; Streptococcus pyogenes was relatively rare. Eight ch ildren had received no antibiotics, the others had been prescribed 65 diffe rent courses of 13 different types. No relationship between the various ant ibiotic regimens prescribed and tonsillar bacteriology could be demonstrate d, and it would appear that the tonsillar bacteriology at the time of tonsi llectomy is not altered by antibiotics prescribed in the previous six month s.