Tonsillitis usually spreads from person to person by contact with the throat or nasal fluids of someone who is already infected. This is why parents who care for a child with tonsillitis should keep the child's drinking glass and eating utensils separate from those of other family members. They should also wash their hands frequently as they care for a child who is sick with tonsillitis, especially if they are also caring for younger children who are not ill. Infections caused by streptococci cause special problems. Estimates are that in a home where someone already has strep, about one out of every four family members will get it, too.
Some children can be carriers of strep bacteria without having any symptoms.
When to Call Your Child's Doctor Call your child's doctor whenever your child has symptoms of tonsillitis, including sore throat, painful swallowing, headache, fever, chills, or swollen neck glands. Professional Treatment Tonsillitis that is caused by a bacterial infection can be treated with antibiotics, but tonsillitis that is caused by a viral infection cannot. Doctors cannot usually tell the difference just by looking at the tonsils. A doctor who suspects that your child has strep tonsillitis will take a throat culture by painlessly swabbing your child's throat to get a sample of throat secretions. This sample is sent to a laboratory to see if streptococci grow.