Microbiology of acute maxillary sinusitis

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out on 50 acute maxillary sinusitis patients and 50 apparently healthy subjects. Pure aerobic growth was more frequent in patients than controls [68% and 56%, respectively], also mixed aerobic and anaerobic growth was more frequent in patients than controls [14% and 8%, respectively]. Pure anaerobic growth was observed in one patient, while fungal growth was detected in 2 patients and one control subject. Single microbial species/sample was slightly increased in controls, while 2 microbial species/sample were more frequent in patients than controls [36% and 12%, respectively]. No growth was recovered from 6 patients and 17 controls. H. influenzae, Staph. pyogenes, Strept. pneumoniae and Bacteroides fragilis were the most frequent organisms isolated from patients [26%, 24%, 22% and 10%, respectively], while H. influenzae, Staph. pyogenes, Strept. viridans and Strept. pneumoniae were the most frequent microbes recovered from control subjects [16%, 14%, 12% and 8%, respectively]. Regardless of the underlying conditions, H. influenzae, Staph. pyogenes and Strep. pneumoniae were the most frequent species isolated from patients with acute maxillary sinusitis