Conjunctivitis-otitis syndrome.

Purulent conjunctivitis associated with otitis media was studied in 124 patients in a private practice over a period of one year. Of the 132 patients seen with purulent conjunctivitis, 96 (73%) concurrently had otitis media. In 29 (47%) of 60 families with more than one child, siblings of the index cases had either purulent conjunctivitis or otitis media, or both, simultaneously or within one month. During the study period, conjunctival cultures were obtained from 75 patients with purulent conjunctivitis-otitis media and patients with purulent conjunctivitis whose siblings had purulent conjunctivitis-otitis media or otitis media. Haemophilus influenzae was isolated from 55 (73%). Thirty-one of the patients had nasal cultures done simultaneously with conjunctival cultures. An identical pathogen was isolated from 27 (87%) patients.