This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (7)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Bacterial Infections  • General Rhinology  • Paranasal Sinus Disease  • Drug Therapy  • Drug Therapy, Other  • Infectious Diseases  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Itzhak Brook, MD, MSc

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006;132:1099-1101.

Objective  To establish the microbiological characteristics of acute exacerbation of chronic sinusitis (AECS).

Setting  Academic medical center.

Patients  Thirty-two patients with chronic sinusitis and 30 patients with AECS.

Main Outcome Measure  The aerobic and anaerobic microbiology of maxillary AECS and chronic maxillary sinusitis.

Results  A total of 81 isolates (33 aerobic and 48 anaerobic) were recovered from the 32 cases (2.5 per specimen) with chronic sinusitis. Aerobes alone were recovered in 8 specimens (25%), anaerobes only were isolated in 11 (34%), and mixed aerobes and anaerobes were recovered in 13 (41%). The predominant aerobic and facultative bacteria were Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus aureus. The predominant anaerobic bacteria were Peptostreptococcus subspecies, Fusobacterium subspecies, anaerobic gram-negative bacilli, and Propionibacterium acnes. Twenty-one -lactamase–producing bacteria were recovered from 17 specimens (53%). A total of 89 isolates (40 aerobic and facultatives, and 49 anaerobic) were recovered from the 30 patients (3.0 per specimen) with AECS. Aerobes were recovered in 8 instances (27%), anaerobes only in 11 (37%), and mixed aerobes and anaerobes were recovered in 11 (37%). The predominant aerobes were Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterobacteriaceae, and S aureus. The predominant anaerobes were Peptostreptococcus subspecies, Fusobacterium subspecies, anaerobic gram-negative bacilli, and P acnes. Thirty-six -lactamase–producing bacteria were recovered from 28 specimens (53%).

Conclusions  This study demonstrates that the organisms isolated from patients with AECS were predominantly anaerobic and were similar to those generally recovered in patients with chronic sinusitis. However, aerobic bacteria that are usually found in acute infections (eg, S pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis) can also emerge in some of the episodes of AECS.

Author Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Bacteriology of Chronic Rhinosinusitis With and Without Nasal Polyps
Niederfuhr et al.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2009;135:131-136.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT