Bacterial attachment in vivo to epithelial cells of the nasopharynx during otitis media with effusion.

Epithelial cells were obtained by swabbing the posterior wall of the nasopharynx (NPH) of 15 patients (age one to 6 8/12 years; eight males, seven females) undergoing ENT-surgery under general anaesthesia for otitis media with effusion (OME). Individually matched, ear healthy children served as controls. Bacteria attached to the non-ciliated cells were calculated according to a method described. Furthermore, quantitative and qualitative bacteriological analyses were performed on samples obtained from mucoid middle ear effusion material as well as from the NPH. All patients and controls harboured middle ear pathogens (S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, B. catarrhalis, or S. aureus) in the NPH. Only 33 per cent of the patients harboured middle ear pathogens in the middle ear effusion and the same pathogen was invariably found in the corresponding NPH. Attachment of bacteria to the non-ciliated cells of the NPH diminished significantly with growing age in the ear healthy control group but not in the OME group. OME is closely correlated to the presence of middle ear pathogens in the NPH and to attachment of bacteria to the epithelial cells in the NPH.