Since Ayer,1 in 1928, and Aycock and Luther,2 in 1929, reported instances of poliomyelitis following recent tonsillectomy, there have been a number of papers on this subject. Many of the observers were able to show that the removal of tonsils and adenoids during a season in which poliomyelitis was prevalent made the patient more susceptible to the disease, and they considered the operative wound as a portal of entry for the virus.
Fischer, Stillerman and Marks3 and Top and Vaughan4 have since studied the status of tonsils and adenoids relative to the incidence of acute poliomyelitis and have observed that tonsils and adenoids were frequently absent in patients with involvement of the higher centers. The purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship that the presence or absence of tonsils bears to the type of disease acquired and to mortality.