[Acute tonsillitis: towards a new therapeutic strategy].

There is a need for revising the current practice for treatment of acute tonsillitis in France, i.e., systematic antibiotic treatment. There are three main reasons for this revision: 1) group A betahemolytic streptococcus is involved in only 20% of acute tonsillitis (80% being viral); 2) rheumatic fever has become very rare; 3) efficient rapid diagnostic tests are now available, allowing a selection of patients with streptococcal tonsillitis who must be treated.