ArticlemSphere2019
Examining the Evidence for an Adult Healthy Middle Ear Microbiome.
Article in mSphere, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent advances and clinical relevance of microbiome dynamics in health and disease.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- The Gut-Ear Axis: From Dysbiosis to Auditory and Vestibular Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Microbiome of the Eustachian tube in patients with chronic obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction and healthy individuals.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2026Article
- The middle ear-nasopharyngeal microbiome axis associated with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction in chronic otitis media.mSystems · 2026Article
- Molecular Characterization of the Middle Ear Microbiome in Pediatric Otitis Media with Effusion: Diagnostic and Clinical Implications.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Characterization of middle ear microbiome in otitis media with effusion in Hungarian children:Heliyon · 2024Article
- Middle ear biofilm and sudden deafness - a light and transmission electron microscopy study.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Otitis Media in Children with Down Syndrome Is Associated with Shifts in the Nasopharyngeal and Middle Ear Microbiotas.Genetic testing and molecular biomarkers · 2023Article
- The Middle Ear Microbiota in Healthy Dogs Is Similar to That of the External Ear Canal.Veterinary sciences · 2023Article
- Microbiota-ear-brain interaction is associated with generalized anxiety disorder through activation of inflammatory cytokine responses.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Cholesteatoma has an altered microbiota with a higher abundance ofLaryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2022Article
- Ear microbiota and middle ear disease: a longitudinal pilot study of Aboriginal children in a remote south Australian setting.BMC microbiology · 2022Article
- A complete guide to human microbiomes: Body niches, transmission, development, dysbiosis, and restoration.Frontiers in systems biology · 2022Article
- Microbiota Associated With Cholesteatoma Tissue in Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
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- TheFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Innate Immunity in the Middle Ear Mucosa.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Review
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Otitis media (OM) is a cluster of diseases of the middle ear that commonly result from bacterial infection. OM subtypes in which the tympanic membrane is intact (acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion) are presumed to result from pathogen translocation through the eustachian tube. Recent molecular-based studies have suggested that a diverse middle ear microbiome exists in the absence of disease. These have been largely unsupported by culture and feature species that commonly contaminate low-biomass sequencing data. Combining culture-based and molecular techniques, we undertook a detailed investigation of the evidence for bacterial colonization of the healthy middle ear. Middle ear (ME), nasopharynx (NP), and external ear canal (EC) swabs were collected from a total of 25 adult patients undergoing cochlear implant, stapedotomy, or translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma resection. Diagnostic culture, microscopy, quantitative PCR, and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing were used to assess sample bacterial content. EC and NP microbiota were consistent with previous reports. In contrast, bacterial levels in ME samples were not significantly above those in unused control swabs. Commonly detected taxa were among recognized sequencing contaminants (
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.