Microbiology of healthy and diseased adenoids

Objective: To determine the qualitative and quantitative microbiology of co re adenoid tissue obtained from four groups of 15 children each, with recur rent otitis media (ROM), recurrent adenotonsillitis (RAT), obstructive aden oid hypertrophy (OAH), and occlusion or speech abnormalities (controls), Me thods: Core cultures of surgically removed diseased adenoids and of healthy controls were cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Results: Polymi crobial aerobic-anaerobic flora were present in all instances. Ninety-four organisms were isolated from control specimens, and 148 from ROM, 142 from RAT, and 149 from OAH specimens. The predominant aerobes in all groups were alpha-hemolytic and gamma-hemolytic streptococci, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, and Moraxella c atarrhalis. The prominent anaerobes were Peptostreptococcus, Prevotella and Fusobacterium species. The number, concentration and distribution of types of most organisms did not vary among the three groups of diseased adenoids , However, the number of those that are potential pathogens and those that produced beta-lactamase was lower in the control than the diseased adenoids (P < .001). Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of the bacteri al load in the adenoids in contributing to the etiology of ROM, RAT, and OA H.