Acute Necrotizing Herpetic Tonsillitis: A Report of Two Cases

Borhan WM, Dababo MA, Thompson LD, Saleem M, Pashley N.
Head Neck Pathol. 2015 Mar;9(1):119-22.
The finding of herpetic tonsillitis is rare. Tonsillectomies are usually done for children with recurrent chronic tonsillitis, while viral throat infections are generally self-limiting. We present two cases: A 5 yearold girl, with atypical hemolytic anemia managed with Eculizumab, who presented with a pharyngeal infection and tonsillar enlargement that did not respond to intravenous antibiotics or antifungal therapies; and a 30 yearold man who presented with upper airway obstruction and fever; bilateral tonsillectomies were performed. Histopathological examination showed a necrotizing tonsillitis with numerous ground-glass intranuclear inclusions, characteristic of herpes viral infection, further confirmed by Herpes simplex virus in situ hybridization. Both patients were managed by intravenous Acyclovir, with dramatic improvement.
PubMed ID: 24338612
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