Microbiology of the middle meatus: a comparison between normal adults and children

Middle meatal samples were obtained from 52 carefully selected healthy adul ts. In 75 per cent of the test subjects bacterial organisms were cultured. However, growth was often poor and the predominant species suggest a commen sal flora: coagulase-negative staphylococci were retrieved from 35 per cent , Corynebacterium sp. from 23 per cent and Staphyloccus aureus from eight p er cent of the adults. These data are very different from those previously obtained among children where - even in the absence of obvious ENT pathology - the most frequently cultured organisms were typical sinusitis pathogens: Haemophilus influenza e present in 40 per cent, Moraxella catarrhalis in 34 per cent and Streptoc occus pneumoniae in 50 per cent of children. Furthermore, Streptococcus vir idans and Neisseria sp., both organisms that might be able to inhibit colon ization by some of the pathogens and found commonly among children, are vir tually absent in healthy adults.