Aerobic and anaerobic bacteriology of acute otitis media in children

Tympanocentesis and aerobic and anaerobic cultivation of the middle-ear fluid obtained was performed through one or both tympanic membranes of 62 children with acute otitis media. Aerobic bacteria alone, predominantely pneumococcus and Hemophilus influenzae, were isolated from 57% of patients; anaerobic organisms alone, most commonly Propionibacterium acnes and Peptococcus, from 15%. Thirteen percent yielded mixtures of aerobes and anaerobes, and several had multiple aerobic or anaerobic agents. The isolation of only anaerobic bacteria, supported in some patients by gram-stain observations of middle-ear fluid, suggest that these bacteria, especially Petococcus, may occasionally play a direct role in acute otitis media.