In primary care settings, the Centor criteria are used to determine the likelihood of group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) infection in an acute tonsillitis and the need of antibiotics for tonsillitis treatment. However, the Centor criteria have their weaknesses in making precise diagnosis for adults. The Centor criteria are also ineffective in diagnosis for tonsillitis in children and in secondary care settings (hospitals). A modified version of the Centor criteria, which modified the original Centor criteria in 1998, is often used to aid in diagnosis. The original Centor criteria had four major criteria but the modified Centor criteria have five. The five major criteria of the modified Centor score are:

Presence of tonsillar exudate
Painful neck lymph nodes
History of fever
Age between five and fifteen years
Absence of coughThe possibility of GABHS infection increases with increasing score. The probability for getting GABHS is 2 to 23% for the score of 1, and 25 to 85% for the score of 4. The diagnosis of GABHS tonsillitis can be confirmed by culture of samples obtained by swabbing the throat and plating them on blood agar medium. This small percentage of false-negative results are part of the characteristics of the tests used but are also possible if the person has received antibiotics prior to testing. Identification requires 24 to 48 hours by culture but rapid screening tests (10–60 minutes), which have a sensitivity of 85–90%, are available. In 40% of the people without any symptoms, the throat culture can be positive.
Administration of deferoxamine after acute intoxication may color the urine a pinkish red, a phenomenon termed "vin rosé urine". Apart from iron toxicity, deferoxamine can be used to treat aluminium toxicity (an excess of aluminium in the body) in select patients. In US, the drug is not FDA-approved for this use. Deferoxamine is also used to minimize doxorubicins cardiotoxic side effects and in the treatment of a patient with aceruloplasminemia. Deferoxamine maybe effective for improving neurologic outcomes in persons with intracranial hemorrhage, although the evidence supporting the efficacy and safety for this indication was weak.Some published manuscripts suggesting the use of deferoxamine for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 because of the high level of ferritin among them. Adverse effects
It is unclear if use during pregnancy is safe for the baby.Chronic use of deferoxamine may increase the risk of hearing loss in patients with thalassemia major.Chronic use of deferoxamine may cause ocular symptoms, growth retardation, local reactions and allergy. Mechanism
Deferoxamine is produced by removal of the trivalent iron moiety from ferrioxamine B, an iron-bearing sideramine produced by the actinomycetes, Streptomyces pilosus. Its discovery was a serendipitous result of research conducted by scientists at Ciba in collaboration with scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany Deferoxamine acts by binding free iron in the bloodstream and enhancing its elimination in the urine. By removing excess iron from persons with hemochromatosis, the agent reduces the damage done to various organs and tissues, such as the liver.