Direct Detection of Bacterial Biofilms on the Middle-Ear Mucosa of Children With Chronic Otitis Media

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Abstract
Otitis media (OM) is the most common illness for which children visit a physician, receive antibiotics, or undergo surgery in the United States. Chronic OM includes both OM with effusion (OME) and recurrent OM in which clinical evidence of OM and the middle-ear effusion (MEE) resolves between episodes. Otitis media with effusion can result in conductive hearing loss, which has been linked to the delayed development of speech and socialization skills.1Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis are isolated from approximately 25% of children with OME, but polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods have demonstrated sequence-specific DNA and RNA for these pathogens in nearly 80% of cases.2-5