Significance of Streptococcus milleri in acute rhinosinusitis with complications

Objectives: To assess the significance of Streptococcus milleri in acute rhinosinusitis with complications. Methods: A retrospective case note review was undertaken of in-patients at both the Red Cross Children's Hopital and the Groote Schuur Hospital (for adults), Cape Town, South Africa, between 1999 and 2003, with a diagnosis of acute rhinosinusitis with complications. The following were documented: age, gender, complications, organisms cultured and their sensitivity, type and number of operations, and length of hospital stay. Results: Seventy-one case notes were reviewed, for 30 female and 41 male patients, representing 38 adults and 33 children. Streptococcus milleri was the most commonly implicated organism (52.1 per cent; 37/71). Patients from whom this organism was isolated tended to require more than one operative procedure, and had a protracted hospital stay.