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

Middle meatal samples were obtained from 52 carefully selected healthy adults. In 75 per cent of the test subjects bacterial organisms were cultured. However, growth was often poor and the predominant species suggest a commensal flora: coagulase-negative staphylococci were retrieved from 35 per cent, Corynebacterium sp. from 23 per cent and Staphyloccus aureus from eight per 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 influenzae present in 40 per cent, Moraxella catarrhalis in 34 per cent and Streptococcus pneumoniae in 50 per cent of children. Furthermore, Streptococcus viridans and Neisseria sp., both organisms that might be able to inhibit colonization by some of the pathogens and found commonly among children, are virtually absent in healthy adults.