Isolation of Alloiococcus otitidis from Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children with chronic otitis media with effusion.
During the last decade Alloiococcus otitidis has been identified in specimens from patients with chronic otitis media with effusion. Whereas most of those studies employed molecular techniques, we used minor modifications of conventional microbiological methods to isolate and identify A. otitidis in samples obtained from 20/50 (40%) children referred for myringotomy. Alloiococcus otitidis was isolated from 10/22 (45%) Indigenous and 10/28 (36%) non-Indigenous children. This is the first report of isolation of A. otitidis from Australian children with chronic otitis media. All isolates were sensitive to penicillin, but 14/20 (70%) of the isolates were resistant or partially resistant to erythromycin as assessed by the E-test.
Hunter Area Pathology Service, The John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. ashhurst@tpg.com.au
Christopher
C
Ashhurst-Smith
Sharron T
ST
Hall
Paul
P
Walker
John
J
Stuart
Philip M
PM
Hansbro
C Caroline
CC
Blackwell
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006095:Gram-Positive Cocci / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic