Differential bacteriology in adenoid disease.

In order to define the differential bacteriology in adenoid disease, adenoids were obtained from 10 children with adenoid hypertrophy and 29 children with chronic adenoiditis. The patients' ages ranged from 18 months to 13 years. After removal of the adenoids, the surface organisms were destroyed by alcohol and flame disinfection. One gram of tissue was sampled for aerobic and anaerobic culture. There was an average of 4.8 isolates per specimen, with 4.2 aerobes and 0.6 anaerobes. The most common isolates were: Haemophilus influenzae (84%), diphtheroids (66%), non-pathogenic Neisseria species (66%), alpha-hemolytic streptococci (64%) and non-hemolytic streptococci (59%). Anaerobes were present in 56% of all cases. The distribution of organisms was similar, regardless of clinical diagnosis. Only eight (21%) of the 39 cases had 'significant' (> or = 10(5) organisms/gm) colony counts. Our study detected no difference in either organism distribution or in total colony counts in chronic adenoiditis vs. adenoid hypertrophy.