2011 Volume 57 Issue 1 Pages 1-6
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is often associated with otitis media. The identification of factors by which a pediatrician can predict whether a patient has otitis media would be useful. We studied infant (< 1 year-old) patients with RSV infection who were admitted to Chidoribashi General Hospital from September in 2007 to August in 2009. Fifteen out of fifty-two patients had acute otitis media (AOM). Patients over 4 months of age had AOM more frequently than the younger patients. The white blood cell counts, the rate of neutrophils, and the level of C-reactive protein in the patients with AOM were not different from those without AOM, while the serum level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the former tended to be higher than that in the latter patients. The patients without Moraxella catarrharis in their nasopharynx tended to have AOM more frequently than the patients with the other microbacteria in their nasopharynx. These results suggest that it may be possible to identify the presence of AOM earlier, allowing for faster treatment in infant patients with RSV, by using the criterion of age (> 4 months old) and the serum LDH level.
