A COMPREHENSIVE CLINICAL AND LABORATORY APPROACH TO THE DIAGNOSIS OF TONSILLITIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11603/1811-2471.2025.v.i1.15253Keywords:
tonsillar inflammation, Centor scale, immunochromatographic tests, microbiological examinationAbstract
SUMMARY. Acute tonsillitis is a common upper respiratory tract infection. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, immunochromatographic tests and bacteriological examination.
The aim – to assess the bacterial nature of tonsillitis based on clinical criteria, the results of an antigen-expression test for group A streptococcus and bacteriological analysis.
Material and Methods. The study examined 37 patients with tonsil inflammation at the primary health care centre. The mean age was 25.21±7.34 years, with more females than males (54.05 % compared to 45.94 %). The clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Centor scale. A rapid test and a bacteriological investigation were used to determine the infection's cause.
Results. Analysis of age structure: in the age group from 17 to 20 years – 27.02 % of patients (group I), from 21 to 30 years – 54.05 % of patients (group II), from 31 to 40 years – 10.81 % of patients (group III), from 41 to 49 years – 5.04 % of patients (group IV). It was found that the number of male and female patients who visited a doctor did not have significant differences p>0.05. According to the sum of the scores obtained according to the criteria of the patient's condition, it was found that 70.27 % of the patients scored >3 points on the Centor scale. Subsequently, a bacteriological examination was carried out on throat swabs taken from patients with a positive streptococcal test result who belonged to group I (17 to 20 years old) and group II (21 to 30 years old). In general, the proportion of positive strep test results among all patients was 24.32%, and the proportion of negative test results was 75.67%. The results of the microbiological study confirmed the presence of St. pyogenes in three patients out of all examined, which amounted to 8.10%.
Conclusions. A comprehensive approach to the diagnosis and confirmation of the bacterial etiology of acute tonsillitis will improve patient care and enable the necessary therapeutic intervention. The Centor scale is a useful tool for the initial assessment of acute tonsillitis, and the result of the rapid test will facilitate decision-making during the clinical examination, and bacteriological examination will confirm or refute the bacterial etiology of the causative agent of acute tonsillitis.
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