Incidence of Bacteria, L-Form and Mycoplasma in Chronic Sinusitis

A series of 50 cases of chronic sinusitis (82 sinuses) has been studied to establish the relative roles which bacteria, L-form and mycoplasma play in the causation of chronic sinusitis. L-forms were found to be the commonest organism, identified in 20.7% of all sinuses, whereas the dominant bacteria was Beta hem. Streptococci isolated in 12.22%. Of 52 bacteriologically sterile sinuses, L-forms were isolated in 12, which reveals their pathogenic nature. The important role of L-form in maintaining the chronicity of the infection must be watched, as this transitional L-form may revert to the infective bacterial form under unfavourable physical conditions or the organisms themselves may be pathogenic. Mycoplasma was not found in any of these cases.