Question
A general practitioner reported that recently, all the school-age children he has seen have presented with symptoms such as fever, nausea (without vomiting), and enlarged tonsils, with poor response to antipyretics and limited efficacy of antibiotic treatment. Laboratory tests showed an elevated white blood cell count, with some children testing positive or negative for pneumonia chlamydia. Positive cases showed improvement with azithromycin, but it was difficult to manage other situations. The doctor’s district-level hospital wanted to know if similar cases had been reported at higher-level hospitals and how to deal with such situations.
Answer
Currently, for children with fever and enlarged tonsils where antibiotic treatment is ineffective, the main treatment method remains surgical removal of the tonsils, but it requires careful selection of indications and not all children are suitable for surgery. Additionally, surgery itself carries risks, which may lead to postoperative discomfort and other sequelae. Surgery is only considered when inflammation is irreversible and other treatment methods have failed.