ABSTRACT
The production and sensitivity of a bacteriocin-like substance in Bacteroides fragilis group strains isolated from middle ear exudates in children with suppurative otitis media were studied through antagonism assayed by the well method. The results of the crossed reactions showed that 10 strains (66.6%) were bacteriocinogenic, 9 were sensitive to at least 1 bacteriocin (60%), and none showed inhibitory activity against homologous strains. Different patterns of susceptibility to bacteriocin-like substances were observed among strains isolated from the same patient as well as different strains isolated from another patient. These findings indicate that bacteriocin typing of anaerobic bacteria isolated from middle ear exudates in children with otitis media might have use in epidemiologic studies.
Subject(s)
Antibiosis/physiology , Bacteriocins/pharmacology , Bacteroides Infections/microbiology , Bacteroides fragilis/physiology , Otitis Media, Suppurative/microbiology , Bacteriocins/biosynthesis , Child , Chronic Disease , Ear, Middle , Exudates and Transudates/microbiology , Humans , In Vitro TechniquesABSTRACT
A bacteriologic analysis was performed on the purulent exudates obtained from the middle ears of 45 children living in Rio de Janeiro with CSOM and spontaneous perforations of the ear drum. Anaerobic cultures showed anaerobic bacteria in association with aerobic or facultatively anaerobic bacteria, or both, in 30 (66.7%) specimens. Facultative anaerobic microorganisms occurred in 42 (93.3%) of the specimens analyzed, strict aerobes in 17 (37.8%), capnophilic in 6 (13.3%), and fungi in 4 (8.9%). The rate of different species of bacteria isolated per sample was 4.4:1.87 for anaerobic and 1.84 for facultative microorganisms. Multiple drug resistances in the aerobic and facultative bacteria were found, and tetracycline, erythromycin, and beta-lactam antibiotic resistances were accentuated in the anaerobic bacteria.