Otitis Media

ACUTE otitis media is a common problem in infants and children. Although antibiotics seem to be effective in controlling suppurative complications, otitis is still a significant cause of morbidity and hearing loss. The etiology remains unsettled and treatment is largely empirical. Bacteriologic studies have repeatedly demonstrated that in only 60% to 70% of cases is it possible to isolate a pathogen from middle ear fluid.1-5Unproved explanations for the sterility of the remaining 30% to 40% are diverse and include a possible viral etiology.5There have been only sporadic accounts of virus isolation from middle ear fluid; few systematic attempts to isolate virus from middle ear fluid have been reported.5-8The association ofMycoplasmawith bullous myringitis has been observed in adult volunteers infected with artificially propagatedM pneumoniae.9In naturally acquiredMpneumoniaeinfection the organism has been recovered on several occasions from the middle