[Microbiology of chronic otitis media in children and comparison of 2 technics for obtaining otic secretions].

Samples of otic secretion for culture were taken to 50 children with suppurative chronic otitis media; two techniques were followed: with a cotton swab from the external meatus or with a sterile metal aspirator, through the tympanic perforation under microscopic control. To 20 of them with unilateral chronic otitis media, a swab with product from the external meatus of the healthy ear was also taken; in 65% of the latter, the same germs were found in both ears, but when the sample was taken with the aspirator, only in 15% were the germs the same (p less than 0.01). Two or more germs were isolated in 54% of the ears following the technique of the swab and in 32% with the aspiration. The predominant microorganisms with the swab technique were gram-positive cocci (S. epidermidis 48% S. aureus 16%); while the aspiration technique reported gram-negative germs in 96% of cultures (Proteus sp. 42%, Pseudomonas sp. 30% and S. aureus only in 14%). We believe that the sample obtained with a swab has a high degree of contamination with the normal flora of the external meatus; therefore, it should be relinquished.