Abstract:
Alloiococcus otitidis has been recovered from the middle car of children with otitis media with effusion, but its natural habitat is not known. To determine whether the nasopharynx and the outer ear canals are the natural habitats of A. otitidis, 145 swabs (50, nasopharynx; 95 outer ear canal) collected from 50 children were screened by polymerase chain reaction. A. otitidis DNA was detected in seven (4.8%) of the 145 specimens, of which four were nasopharynx, and three outer ear canal. These results indicate that the nasopharynx and outer car canal may be the body sites for localization of A. otitidis.