J03

Non-Billable

ChapterJ00–J99

Rankcategory

Official Description

Acute tonsillitis

Metadata & Insights

•2026 ICD-10-CM Edition - Effective October 1, 2025.
•Non-billable category (requires more specific sub-code).
•Chapter 10: Diseases of the Respiratory System (J00-J99).

CH10 Parent Instructions

Excludes2(Not included here)

certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (P04-P96)
certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)
complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O9A)
congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)
endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E88)
injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T88)
neoplasms (C00-D49)
smoke inhalation (T59.81-)
symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified (R00-R94)

Use Additional Code

code, where applicable, to identify:
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (Z77.22)
exposure to tobacco smoke in the perinatal period (P96.81)
history of tobacco dependence (Z87.891)
occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (Z57.31)
tobacco dependence (F17.-)
tobacco use (Z72.0)

J00-J06 Parent Instructions

Excludes1(Not coded here)

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acute lower respiratory infection (J44.0)

Instructional Notes

Excludes1(Not coded here)

acute sore throat (J02.-)
hypertrophy of tonsils (J35.1)
peritonsillar abscess (J36)
sore throat NOS (J02.9)
streptococcal sore throat (J02.0)

Excludes2(Not included here)

chronic tonsillitis (J35.0)

Clinical Hierarchy

CH10Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)

J00-J06Acute upper respiratory infections (J00-J06)

J03Acute tonsillitis

J03.0Streptococcal tonsillitis

J03.8Acute tonsillitis due to other specified organisms

J03.9Acute tonsillitis, unspecified

Applicable Ancestor Context

The following parent sections contain instructions or notes that apply to J03:

blockJ00-J06

Acute upper respiratory infections (J00-J06)

View context instructions

chapterCH10

Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)

View context instructions

Alphabetic Index Mentions

These are Diagnosis Index lookup paths that route to J03. Use them as entry terms for search, then confirm final coding instructions in the Tabular List and notes above.

17 raw paths

Adenoiditis (chronic)8 unique routes

acute→J03(8 variants)

recurrent→J03

specified organism NEC→J03(2 variants)

recurrent→J03

staphylococcal→J03(2 variants)

recurrent→J03

streptococcal→J03(2 variants)

recurrent→J03

Infection, infected, infective (opportunistic)1 unique routes

adenoid (and tonsil)→J03