ABSTRACT
A prospective study of throat cultures and maxillary sinus aspirates from children with chronic sinusitis (n = 21), acute sinusitis (n = 28) or a clinical diagnosis of chronic adenoiditis (n = 41) was performed. Seventy-two bacterial pathogens were isolated from sinus aspirates from 52% of the study population. Haemophilus influenzae was most common pathogen, followed by Moraxella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and group A streptococci. Quantitative throat cultures had positive predictive values of 41%, 53% and 75% for H. influenzae, Strep. pneumoniae and M. catarrhalis, respectively, while negative predictive values were 93-98%, indicating that these three pathogens do not cause sinusitis when absent from the throat.
Subject(s)
Haemophilus influenzae/isolation & purification , Moraxella catarrhalis/isolation & purification , Pharynx/microbiology , Respiratory Mucosa/microbiology , Sinusitis/microbiology , Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purification , Adenoids/microbiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Haemophilus Infections/diagnosis , Haemophilus Infections/microbiology , Humans , Infant , Male , Moraxellaceae Infections/diagnosis , Moraxellaceae Infections/microbiology , Pneumococcal Infections/diagnosis , Pneumococcal Infections/microbiology , Predictive Value of Tests , Prospective Studies , Sinusitis/diagnosis , Staphylococcal Infections/diagnosis , Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology , Streptococcus pneumoniae/isolation & purificationABSTRACT
Meningococcal disease is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality among children in many parts of the world. Main reservoir of carriage and site of meningococcal dissemination appears to be the upper respiratory tract. Colonization of Neisseria meningitidis and lactamica and factors affecting this carriage were determined in a group of healthy children aged 0-10 years. Meningococcus and N. lactamica carriage were detected in 17 (1.23%) and 245 (17.7%) of 1382 subjects, respectively. Number (%) of serogroups for meningococci was 1 (6), 5 (29), 0 (0), 1 (6), 1 (6), and 9 (53) for A, B, C, D, W135, and Y, respectively. Having more than three household members, elementary school attendance, pharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae were associated with carriage of meningococci, whereas age less than 24-month was associated with carriage of N. lactamica. There was a reverse carriage rate between N. meningitidis and N. lactamica by age which may suggest a possible protective role of N. lactamica against meningococcal colonization among pre-school children.
