Clinical Characteristics and Microbiology of Acute Otitis Media of Children: Multicenter Studies / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Acute otitis media (AOM) is one of the most common forms of bacterial infection in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and the common pathogens of AOM children who visited three different centers. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We have conducted a retrospective study of 133 children under 15 years with the diagnosis of AOM that had been seen between January 2010 and January 2011. We examined of AOM children's symptoms, signs and culture results. RESULTS: The most common symptoms were in the order of crying or irritability, otalgia and fever. Otorrhea was significantly higher under 2 years old and drum injection was over 2 years old. The most common pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae (26.6%), followed by Moraxella catarrhalis (19.0%), Haemophilus influenzae (11.4%) and Staphylococcus aureus (11.4%). Among the total pathogens, about 71% of pathogens were resistant to amoxicillin, 78% to macroride, and 55.2% to clindamycin. About 58.3% of H. influenza and M. catarrhalis were positive to beta-lactamase. CONCLUSION: More than half of pathogens were resistant to standard dose amoxicillin. For the appropriate treatment of AOM, decisions were made based on the common symptoms, signs and antibiotic resistances of pathogens.