PONE-D-20-00508

Peritonsillar abscess may not always be a complication of acute tonsillitis: A prospective cohort study

PLOS ONE

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Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Although a well written paper with a coherent statistical analysis of the data, it is not a new suggestion in the literature regarding the relationship of PTA and the minor salivary glands of Weber (this eponym should have been quoted ...). Other than that, for validation of microbial etiology swabs of the tonsilar surface in the PTA patients should also have been done as for individual comparison of microbial etiology and for comparison with the AT patients. As regarding the s-Amyl levels, the findings could possibly have other causes; in this way, the s-Amyl levels should also have been measured after disease resolution as to exclude false-positive results during PTA crisis.

Reviewer #2: This prospective cohort study of 112 patients nicely compares serum amylase and CRP levels in patients with tonsillitis and peritonsillar abscess, including 8 patients who did not have acute tonsillitis on physical exam. Those who did not have acute tonsillitis but had a PTA had lower CRP and were older. The paper is well-written.

Suggestions:

Would add to keywords; peritonsillar abscess, tonsillitis

Abstract line 11: suggest changing to: "These findings support that some cases of PTA may be caused by an

etiology other than AT. "

Page 11 line 25: Suggest not using the abbreviation TE (eg write out the words)

Page 12 line 4: It is a stretch to say that there is a group of patients who share features with parotitis. Suggest limiting the conclusion to what is known- i.e. the inverse relationship between CRP and S-amyl.

Reviewer #3: interesting topic with good study drawn, intereting number of patines and well designed study

some limitations recognized by the authors and interestingly discussed

good statistical analyses with consistency on results

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes: maria helena raposo silveira

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Peritonsillar abscess may not always be a complication of acute tonsillitis: A prospective cohort study

PONE-D-20-00508R1

Dear Dr. Sanmark,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

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With kind regards,

Jorge Spratley, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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