The objective of this study was to describe the incidence and microbiology of peritonsillar abscesses (PTA) and to study the clinical history with special reference to primary care management of these patients. We performed a retrospective study of hospital records to determine the incidence of PTA in 2000-2006, and a prospective study of consecutive PTA patients to study the microbiology of PTA, the clinical history and previous management in primary care of these patients. The incidence of PTA varied between 19 and 37/100,000 per y in the y 2000-2006. In total, 89 patients were included in the prospective study (54M, 35F), with a median age of 22 y (range 13-83 y). The most frequent single bacterial agent found was group A beta- haemolytic Streptococcus (GAS), identified in 18% of throat swabs and 24% of aspirates. The majority of PTA developed within 5 d of onset of sore throat and 54% of patients presented without prior consultation for sore throat. In the studied population the patient that first presented to primary care seems to have been appropriately managed and referred.