We studied bacteria isolated from the middle ear fluid in 135 children under 6 years of age with acute otitis media (AOM) between April 2004 and March 2005. Approximately 42% of samples were culture-negative. Eighty-nine bacterial pathogens were identified from those samples:
Streptococcus pneumoniaein 35 (39.3%),
Haemophilus influenzaein 14 (28.6%), and
Branhamella catarrhalis in 3 (3.4%). For
S. pneumoniae, the rate of non-susceptibility to penicillin G was 77.1%(PISP + PRSP). For
H. influenzae, the rate of ampicillin-resistant strains was 28.6%. Among all isolates of our hospital, recently there has been a marked increase in→-lactamase non-producing ampicillin-resistant
H. influenzae(BLNAR). The rate of BLNAR was 0.8%,1.4%, and 15.8% for the years of 2003,2004, and 2005, respectively. Among the AOM isolates obtained in this study,78.2% were resistant to ampicillin. In contrast, the rate of resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate among the AOM isolates was 13.6%. For selecting a first-line antibiotic in the treatment of AOM, an increase in drug-resistant organisms should be taken into consideration.
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