The correlation between bacteriological findings in the nose and maxillary sinus in acute maxillary sinusitis

Nasal and sinus bacteriology have been investigated in healthy controls and in patients with acute maxillary sinusitis. Comparatively few healthy noses were sterile, and in controls the nasal bacterial flora commonly consisted mainly of staphylococci and diphtheroid rods. Nasal specimens from patients with sinusitis showed most common findings to be “no growth,” pneumococci, Haemophilus influenzae and staphylococci in that order. In aspirated sinus secretions there was a predominance of pneumococci, “no growth” and Haemophilus influenzae. Other bacteria were uncommon. Staphylococci were shown conclusively to be nasal contaminants. The same organisms were found in the nasal and sinus secretions of patients with sinusitis in only 64 percent, thus indicating that nasal samples are of low predictive value in reflecting sinus flora. It can be argued that in the individual patient with sinusitis it is more reliable to base therapy on the results of previous bacteriological investigations than on the individual bacteral findings in the nose.