Molecular identification of Heamophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Moraxella catarrhalis bacteria isolated from middle ear efusion

Otitis media effusion (OME) is one of the middle ear diseases frequently seen in children and can cause hearing loss if left untreated. Bacteria commonly affect OME, and viruses can also be the cause of the disease. Therefore, it is important to know the types of microbiota that makeup OME. In this thesis, it was aimed to compare the results of the diagnosis of Haemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pneumonia and Moraxella catarrhalis bacteria, which are known to be OME agents, in individuals from whom cerebrospinal fluid and middle ear effusion samples were taken, using culture media and molecular methods. Culture positivity of S. pneumoniae (1.9%) in samples obtained from cerebrospinal fluid in culture medium, M.catarrhalis, and H.influenzae non-b (13.6%) in middle ear effusion samples were detected. In the results obtained after the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 9.4% (S.pneumoniae) in the cerebrospinal fluid and 36.3% (H.influenzae, M.catarrhalis and S.pneumoniae + M.catarrhalis) were detected in the middle ear effusion samples. The results of the study showed that the PCR technique can more effectively detect the three most common pathogens from samples from meningitis and OME cases. It has been concluded that if the PCR technique is put into routine use in this field and a good dialogue between microbiologists, molecular biologists and clinicians is provided, the correct approach to etiological and therefore treatment problems in these diseases can be reduced.