Fifteen-year-old Kaci Jawegg's family knew the signs and symptoms all too well: It would start with itchy ears, followed by a sore and scratchy throat.
“I would say, ‘oh, here we go again. Everyone's got to stay away from Kaci or they'll get sick too',” recalls Annette Tase of her daughter Kaci's frequent bouts of strep throat and tonsillitis.
About nine times during her freshman year in high school, Kaci had strep throat – an infection of the throat caused by bacteria called Streptococci – and tonsillitis – a temporary swelling and redness of the tonsils that is usually present with any throat infection.
Frequent school absences caused her grades to slip, and Kaci to miss out on dances and other special school events. That's when she and her mom made the decision to have Kaci's tonsils removed before the start of the new school year.
“Having her tonsils taken out will not only make her feel better, but she'll miss less school and essentially have her life back,” says Annette.
Each year, about 300,000 children and adolescents like Kaci have tonsillectomies – a surgical procedure to remove the tonsils – in hope of reducing the occurrence of chronic throat infections like strep and tonsillitis.
“Taking out your tonsils doesn't mean that you'll never have another sore throat, or that you'll never have another episode of strep,” explains Susan Garetz, M.D., clinical assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Michigan Health System. “But it's been shown in children who have recurrent strep that taking the tonsils out will reduce the frequency of those infections.”
So when is a tonsillectomy the right choice for your child, And why are some children more prone to recurrent infections
To help answer some of those questions, Garetz offers parents a seven-step guide to better understand tonsils, tonsillitis, strep and tonsillectomies.
7-step guide to understanding tonsils and strep