Acute Otitis Media and Acute Bacterial Sinusitis

Acute otitis media and acute bacterial sinusitis are 2 of the most common indications for antimicrobial agents in children. Together, they are responsible for billions of dollars of health care expenditures. The pathogenesis of the 2 conditions is identical. In the majority of children with each con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical Infectious Diseases 2011-05, Vol.52 (suppl_4), p.S277-S283
Main Author: Wald, Ellen R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial Infections - diagnosis
Bacterial Infections - microbiology
Bacterial Infections - therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Ear, auditive nerve, cochleovestibular tract, facial nerve: diseases, semeiology
Ent and stomatologic bacterial diseases
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Middle ear
Nasopharynx
Non tumoral diseases
Otitis media
Otitis Media - diagnosis
Otitis Media - microbiology
Otitis Media - therapy
Otorhinolaryngology (head neck, general aspects and miscellaneous)
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology
Pathogens
Pediatrics
Respiratory tract infections
Sinuses
Sinusitis
Sinusitis - diagnosis
Sinusitis - microbiology
Sinusitis - therapy
Supplement
Viruses
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Summary:Acute otitis media and acute bacterial sinusitis are 2 of the most common indications for antimicrobial agents in children. Together, they are responsible for billions of dollars of health care expenditures. The pathogenesis of the 2 conditions is identical. In the majority of children with each condition, a preceding viral upper respiratory tract infection predisposes to the development of the acute bacterial complication. It has been shown that viral upper respiratory tract infection predisposes to the development of acute otitis media in 37% of cases. Currently, precise microbiologic diagnosis of acute otitis media and acute bacterial sinusitis requires performance of tympanocentesis in the former and sinus aspiration in the latter. The identification of a virus from the nasopharynx in either case does not obviate the need for antimicrobial therapy. Furthermore, nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs are not useful in predicting the results of culture of the middle ear or paranasal sinus. However, it is possible that a combination of information regarding nasopharyngeal colonization with bacteria and infection with specific viruses may inform treatment decisions in the future.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1093/cid/cir042