CAN NASAL BACTERIAL FLORA BE PREDICTED FROM CLINICAL FINDINGS?

Abstract

In a clinical study involving 229 control subjects and 285 patients with abnormal nasal or paranasal findings which extended over a 2-year period, patients with crusting below the nares, on the edges of the alae nasi, or redness of the skin below the nares had a significant increase in the growth of beta hemolytic streptococcus in their nasal cultures. Patients with a nasal discharge had a higher incidence of beta hemolytic streptococci, Hemophilus influenzae, and pneumococci than the controls. Color, thickness, and duration of nasal discharge were poor predictors of nasal bacterial flora. Blistering distal dactylitis was found in two symptomatic patients, both of whom grew beta streptococci from their noses and the pus from the blisters.