During the last decade Alloiococcus otitidis has been identified in specimens from patients with chronic otitis media with effusion. Whereas most of those studies employed molecular techniques, we used minor modifications of conventional microbiological methods to isolate and identify A. otitidis in samples obtained from 20/50 (40%) children referred for myringotomy. Alloiococcus otitidis was isolated from 10/22 (45%) Indigenous and 10/28 (36%) non-Indigenous children. This is the first report of isolation of A. otitidis from Australian children with chronic otitis media. All isolates were sensitive to penicillin, but 14/20 (70%) of the isolates were resistant or partially resistant to erythromycin as assessed by the E-test.
Chronic ear disease in Aboriginal children is associated with nasal inflammation, neutrophil infiltration and the presence of bacteria. These features suggest respiratory infection as the main cause of chronic nasal inflammation in Aboriginal children with middle ear disease. There is a seasonal variation in the severity of the nasal infiltrate, consistent with increased infections during winter. Despite a high prevalence of atopy, allergic nasal disease was uncommon.
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