Chlamydia trachomatis in the etiology of acute otitis media.

In an effort to show that Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) may be involved in the causation of acute otitis media (AOM), we performed three experiments. In the first, we inoculated the tympanic bullae of 6 chinchillas with CT. Five of the 6 inoculated animals developed CT AOM. In the second experiment, we sprayed the nasopharynx of 10 chinchillas with CT. Of these, 8 developed both pharyngitis and AOM, and in 6, live CT was cultured from the middle ear and pharynx. In the third experiment, 5 chinchillas had their conjunctiva inoculated with CT. Three developed CT conjunctivitis. Of these, 2 developed CT pharyngitis and 1 developed CT AOM. We concluded that CT will cause AOM in the chinchilla by direct inoculation into the middle ear as well as indirectly by infection of the nasopharynx and conjunctiva.