It's the tonsils' shape that causes trouble, notes Dr. Godley. Their anatomy allows bacteria to hide in the folds of the surface of the tonsil, so that you either get infections easily or harbor bacteria there. The result is tonsillitis, an ailment in which the tonsils swell and the throat gets red and sore. The symptoms of this condition are virtually the same as those for strep throat, which is caused by a bacteria called Beta-streptococcus , notes Dr. Godley. Like strep throat, tonsillitis hits mainly young people.
Tonsils start to shrink as the child ages, and at puberty they shrink substantially.
Less than 10 percent of all tonsillectomies are performed on adults. Even among doctors, opinions are divided as to the effectiveness of removing tonsils. The decision to perform surgery depends on what kind of sore throats the patient has been getting, according to Michael Benninger, M.D., chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and author of Vocal Arts Medicine . If the tonsils are the focus of bacterial infection, removing them will dramatically decrease the incidence of sore throats. That's because the common cold and flu are viral and tend to affect other tissues in the throat, not just the tonsils.