Characteristics and outcomes of acute otitis media in children carrying streptococcus pneumoniae or haemophilus influenzae in their nasopharynx as a single otopathogen after introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

After PCV7 implementation, clinical characteristics were investigated in 832 young children with acute otitis media, carrying a single S. pneumoniae or H. influenzae in their nasopharynx. As compared with H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae-associated acute otitis media was less frequently associated with treatment failure (odds ratio = 0.5; 95% confidence interval: 0.36-0.83) and recurrence (odds ratio = 0.4; 95% confidence interval: 0.22-0.75). Post-PCV7 serotype replacement seemed not to affect the acute otitis media characteristics in these children.