Isolation of Respiratory Syncytial Virus from Middle Ear Exudates of Infants

Abstract

Specimens from the middle ear exudate were obtained from children during a respiratory syncytial virus epidemic in Turku, Finland, in 1965. By puncture aspiration through the ear drum and immediate direct inoculation of the exudate specimens obtained into cell cultures, respiratory syncytial virus was isolated from one or both ears of 9 infants 12 months or younger hospitalized for a disease of the lower respiratory tract caused by the respiratory syncytial virus.