Acute childhood otitis media: the diagnostic value of bacterial samples from the nasopharynx.

OBJECTIVE: To compare bacteriologic results in acute otitis media (AOM) from middle ear otorrhea and rhinopharyngeal samples. METHODS: Three hundred and fifty-four children suffering from AOM were included. Two samples were obtained for each patient, one in the middle ear fluid, and another in the rhinopharynx. RESULTS: The rhinopharyngeal sample shows a poor predictive value for the pathogen responsible for the AOM (only 30%). But antibiotic sensitivity from each bacteriologic sample (otorrhea and rhinopharynx) for the whole population showed a very good correlation. CONCLUSIONS: The collection of nasopharyngeal cultures should therefore be promoted for their collective epidemiologic value, especially with reference to the monitoring of pneumococcal susceptibility in children.