Otitis Media

The Otitis Media Research Group at the University of Texas Medical Branch has been established for more than 30 years and focuses on studies of microbial & host cell interactions during viral respiratory infections and acute otitis media . The Group studied thousands of children with acute otitis media and viral respiratory infections, and analyzed their middle ear fluids and nasopharyngeal secretions for viruses, cytokines, inflammatory mediators and microbiota. We also studied genetic polymorphisms that affect otitis media. Our work on virology of acute otitis media has fundamentally changed the understanding of microbial etiology of AOM from solely bacterial infection to viral-bacterial coinfection.

Researchers

Relevant Publications

  • Chonmaitree T, Revai K, Grady JJ, Clos A, Patel JA, Nair S, Fan J, Henrickson KJ. Viral upper respiratory tract infection and otitis media complication in young children. Clin Infect Dis 2008, 46:815-823.
  • Revai K, Patel JA, Grady JJ, Nair S, Matalon R, Chonmaitree T. Association between cytokine gene polymorphisms and risk for upper respiratory tract infection and acute otitis media. Clin Infect Dis 2009, 49: 257-61
  • Patel JA, Nair S, Revai K, Grady JJ, Chonmaitree T. Nasopharyngeal acute phase cytokines in viral upper respiratory infection: impact on acute otitis media in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2009, 28: 1002-1007.
  • Kalu SU, Ataya RS, McCormick DP, Patel JA, Revai K, Chonmaitree T. Clinical spectrum of acute otitis media complicating upper respiratory tract viral infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2011, 30(2):95-99.
  • McCormick DP, Grady JJ, Diego A, Matalon R, Revai K, Patel JA, Chonmaitree T. Acute otitis media severity: Association with cytokine gene polymorphisms and other risk factors. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2011, 75: 708-712.
  • Loeffelholz MJ, Pong DL, Pyles RB, Xiong Y, Miller AL, Bufton KK, Chonmaitree T. Comparison of the Filmarray(R) respiratory panel and prodesse(R) real-time PCR assays for detection of respiratory pathogens. J Clin Microbiol 2011, 49: 4083-4088.
  • Ede LC, O’Brien J, Chonmaitree T, Han Y, Patel JA.Lactate dehydrogenase as a marker of nasopharyngeal inflammatory injury during viral upper respiratory infection: implications for acute otitis media. Pediatr Res. 2013, 73(3):349-54.
  • Marom T, Tan A, Wilkinson GS, Pierson KS, Freeman JL, Chonmaitree T. Trends in Otitis Media-related Health Care Use in the United States, 2001-2011. JAMA Pediatrics 2014; Jan 1; 168(1): 68-75. (E-pub ahead of print Nov 25, 2013).
  • Nokso-Koivisto J, Pyles RB, Miller A, Jennings K, Loeffelholz MJ, Chonmaitree T. Role of Human Bocavirus in Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Acute Otitis Media. J Pediatr Infect Dis Soc 2014; 3(2): 98-103.
  • Nokso-Koivisto J, Chonmaitree T, Jennings K, Matalon R, Block S, Patel JA. Polymorphisms of Immunity Genes and Susceptibility to Otitis Media in Children. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93930. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093930, April 2014.
  • Loeffelholz  MJ, Trujillo R, Pyles RB, Miller AL, Alvarez-Fernandez PE, Pong DL, Chonmaitree T. Duration of rhinovirus shedding in the respiratory tract in the first year of life. Pediatrics 2014; 134 (6) 1144-1150.
  • Chonmaitree T, Alvarez-Fernandez PE, Jennings K, Trujillo R, Marom T, Loeffelholz MJ, Miller AL, McCormick DP, Patel JA, Pyles RB. Symptomatic and asymptomatic viral infections in the first year of life: Association with acute otitis media development. Clinical Infect Dis. 2015; 60(1):1–9.
  • Nokso-Koivisto J, Marom T, Chonmaitree T. Importance of viruses in acute otitis media. Curr Opin Pediatr 2015; 27:110–115.
  • Patel JA, Alvarez-Fernandez PE, Jennings K, Loeffelholz  MJ, McCormick DP, Chonmaitree T. Factors Affecting Staphylococcus aureus Colonization of the Nasopharynx in the First Six Months of Life. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2015; 34 (8):826-830.
  • Santos-Cortez, RLP, Chiong, CM, Reyes-Quintos, MRT, Tantoco, MLV, Wang, X, Acharya, A, Abbe, I, Giese, AP, Allen, EK, Smith, JD, Li, B, Cutiongco-de la Paz, EM, Garcia, MC, Llanes, EGd., Labra, P, Gloria-Cruz, TL, Chan, AL, Wang, GT, University of Washington Center for Mendelian Genomics, Shendure, J, Bamshad, M, Nickerson, DA, Daly, K, Patel, JA, Riazuddin, S, Sale, MM, Chonmaitree, T, Ahmed, ZM, Abes, GT, & Leal, SM (2015). Rare A2ML1 variants confer susceptibility to otitis media. Nat Genet, 2015 Aug; 47(8):917-20.
  • McCormick DP, Jennings K, Ede LC, Alvarez-Fernandez P, Patel J, Chonmaitree T. Use of symptoms and risk factors to predict acute otitis media in infants. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2016; 81:55-59.
  • Wagner JC, Pyles RB, Miller AL, Nokso-Koivisto J, Loeffelholz MJ, Chonmaitree T. Determining persistence of bocavirus DNA in the respiratory tract of children by pyrosequencing. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2016; 35:471-746.
  • Chonmaitree T, Trujillo R, Jennings K, Alvarez-Fernandez P, Patel JA, Loeffelholz MJ, Nokso-Koivisto J, Matalon R, Pyles RB, Miller AL, McCormick DP. Acute otitis media and other complications of viral respiratory infection. Pediatrics Apr 2016, 137 (4) DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-3555.
  • Schilder A, Chonmaitree T, Cripps A, Rosenfeld R, Casselbrant M, Haggard M, Venekamp R. Otitis media. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016 Sep 8; 2:16063. DOI: 10.1038/nrdp.2016.63.
  • Santos-Cortez RLP, Hutchinson DS, Ajami NJ, Reyes-Quintos MRT, Tantoco MLC, Labra PJ, Lagrana SM, Pedro M; dV Llanes EG, Gloria-Cruz TL, Chan AL, Cutiongco-de la Paz EM, Belmont JW, Chonmaitree T, Abes GT, Petrosino JF, Leal SM, Chiong CM. Middle ear microbiome differences in indigenous Filipinos with chronic otitis media due to a duplication in the A2ML1 gene. Infectious Diseases of Poverty 2016; 5: 97.