Objective To determine the incidence of resistant bacteria in adenoid cultures from children with and without middle ear disease and rhinosinusitis symptoms.
Design Children meeting the requirement for tympanostomy tube placement underwent an adjuvant adenoidectomy for symptoms of adenoid hypertrophy or recurrent rhinosinusitis. Adenoid tissue and coexisting middle ear fluid, if present, were cultured.
Setting Tertiary referral children's hospital with community-based satellite clinics.
Patients Forty-six patients ranging in age from 1 to 11 years (68% <3 years) with recurrent or persistent otitis media and symptoms of adenoid hypertrophy or rhinosinusitis (study patients) underwent tympanostomy tube placement and adenoidectomy with culture of the adenoids and middle ear effusions. Eighteen patients with adenoid hypertrophy without ear disease or rhinosinusitis were used as controls.
Interventions Tympanostomy tube placement and adenoidectomy.
Main Outcome Measures Presence or absence of resistant bacteria.
Results Resistant bacteria were found in cultures of the adenoids in 56% (26/46) of the study group compared with 22% (4/18) of the control patients (P<.02). Also, strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, or Moraxella catarrhalis were found in cultures from 78% (36/46) of the study group, compared with 44% (8/18) of those from the control group (P<.01). Resistant isolates were found in 65% (23/35) of the S pneumoniae, 37% (18/49) of the H influenzae, and 100% (19/19) of the M catarrhalis cultures from the adenoids or middle ear spaces.
Conclusion Resistant bacteria are present in significant amounts in the adenoids of children with middle ear disease and rhinosinusitis symptoms compared with patients without those diseases or symptoms.
