Presence of viral and bacterial pathogens in the nasopharynx of otitis-prone children A prospective study Anne Pitka ¨ranta a, * , Merja Roivainen b , Karin Blomgren a , Joanna Peltola b , Tarja Kaijalainen c , Riitta Ra ¨ty b , Thedi Ziegler b , Esa Ro ¨nkko ¨ b , Katja Hatakka d , Riitta Korpela d,e , Tuija Poussa f , Maija Leinonen c , Tapani Hovi b a Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, POB 220, FIN-00029 Helsinki, Finland b Department of Viral Diseases and Immunology, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland c Laboratory for Chlamydia and Respiratory Tract Bacteria, National Public Health Institute, Aapistie 1, POB 310, 90101 Oulu, Finland d Valio R&D, P.O. Box 30, FIN-00039, Helsinki, Finland e Institute of Biomedicine, Pharmacology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland f STAT-Consulting, Pyynikintie 25, FIN-33230 Tampere, Finland Received 29 March 2005; accepted 21 August 2005 International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (2006) 70, 647—654 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijporl KEYWORDS Respiratory virus; Bacteria; Nasopharynx; Children Summary Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine and follow up the presence of respiratory viral and bacterial pathogens in the nasopharynx of otitis- prone children during the cold season and compare the findings with the child’s respiratory symptoms. Methods: We enrolled 121 otitis-prone children, aged 10 months to 4 years for a prospective study. The nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) were studied at the baseline and after 12 and 24 weeks for respiratory viruses and at the baseline and after 24 weeks for bacteria. Presence of picorna(rhino-entero-parecho)-, influenza-, adenoviruses and Mycoplasma pneumoniae was detected by PCR. NPS specimens were cultured for Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Moraxella catarrhalis. Clin- ical data (the rate of respiratory symptom days, otitis media, tympanometry findings, * Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 504271559; fax: +358 9 471 75010. E-mail address: anne.pitkaranta@hus.fi (A. Pitka ¨ranta). 0165-5876/$ — see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2005.08.018