Acute tonsillitis, a commonly-seen pharyngeal disease, is the acute nonspecific inflammation of palatal tonsil. It mostly occurs in children and young people. The disease easily occurs during seasonal alternations and climatic variations, with a higher incidence in spring and autumn. It is generally sporadic and occasionally fulminant epidemic.

The disease is mostly due to bacterial infection. Some cases are caused by viruses and some by the mixed infection of bacteria and viruses as well. Recently, it has been discovered that infection of anaerobic bacteria exists, too. The above-mentioned causative agents often exist in the pharyngx and tonsillar crypts of normal people and do not lead to diseases because of the normal defense function of the organism. The general or local body resistance will decline when the patient catches cold, gets wet, overfatigues, drinks wine and smokes excessively as well as due to stimulation of harmful gases or existence of chronic foci in upper respiratory tract. At this time, the causative agents reproduce numerously in the organism.