Bacteriology of chronic maxillary sinusitis associated with nasal polyposis

Aspirates from 48 chronically inflamed maxillary sinuses from patients who had nasal polyposis were processed for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Bacterial growth was present in 46 (96%) specimens. Aerobic or facultative bacteria were present in 6 (13%) specimens, anaerobic bacteria alone in 18 (39%), and mixed aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in 22 (48%). There were 110 bacterial isolates (2.4 per specimen). Thirty-nine of the isolates were aerobic or facultative organisms (0.85 per specimen). The predominant aerobic or facultative organisms were: Staphylococcus aureus, microaerophilic streptococci, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis. Seventy-one anaerobes were isolated (11.5 per specimen), Peptostreptococcus spp., Prevotella spp., Porphyromonas asaccharolytica and Fusobacterium spp. being predominant. These findings illustrate for the first time the presence of polymicrobial aerobic-anaerobic flora in patients with chronic maxillary sinusitis who had nasal polyposis.