This is why it's important for children to take a test to see if they have a strep throat infection or an infection caused by a virus. Children can still get strep throat after having their tonsils removed. But tonsillectomy may lower how often and how severe some children have strep throat.
Strep throat is a highly contagious infection. It causes swelling of the tonsils and the throat, but you can still get it even if you don't have tonsils. Not having tonsils may reduce the severity of this infection.
Having tonsils doesn't mean you'll get strep throat, just as not having tonsils doesn't make you immune to this infection. In both cases, exposure to the strep bacteria puts you at risk. People who have their tonsils are at an increased risk for more frequent cases of strep throat. This is especially true in children.
Strep throat typically goes away within three to seven days with or without antibiotic treatment. If strep throat is not treated with antibiotics, you may be contagious for two to three weeks and at a higher risk for complications such as rheumatic fever.