The importance of hemolytic streptococci as the cause of fatal infections in infants and children is generally recognized. In bronchopneumonia, empyema, otitis media and in other serious conditions, these organisms are the predominant bacterial agents. In a previous study1 it was pointed out that these streptococci are commonly found in normal and diseased conditions of the upper respiratory tract. These organisms were recovered from swab cultures of the pharynx and tonsillar surfaces in 61 per cent, of children, aged from 6 to 15 years, with simple hyperplastic tonsils. From the crypts of the extirpated tonsils of the same persons they occurred in 97 per cent, in large numbers. In adults, the hemolytic streptococci occur four times as frequently in nontonsillectomized as in tonsillectomized throats (from 58 per cent, to 15.8 per cent.). These data illustrate that the faucial tonsils are important sources of hemolytic streptococci.
The nasopharynx and adenoid