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In usual office practice, no culture is available for guiding antibiotic treatment of acute otitis media (AOM). Tympanocentesis is generally avoided and, even when performed, often results in a sterile culture. In a partially industry-funded study conducted in Rochester, New York, from July 2006 to July 2008, researchers assessed whether the use of multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could improve the rate of pathogen detection in middle ear fluid (MEF).
Tympanocentesis was performed on 97 children aged 6 to 36 months who had AOM and bulging tympanic membranes. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples for culture were obtained at the time of AOM diagnosis and 3 weeks later. MEF was obtained for culture and also for multiplex PCR for St…