Demographic Distribution and Etiological Bacterial Spectrum of Patients with Non-Odontogenic Abscesses and Phlegmons of the Head and Neck

Abstract

The aims of the present study are to prove that in non-odontogenic abscesses and phlegmons in the head and neck region, the main microbiological agents are representatives of the oral resident microflora, as in odontogenic purulent inflammatory diseases in the same area, and to determine and compare the demo¬graphic distribution between the two analyzed etiological groups. It includes and studies 57 patients with non-odontogenic abscesses and phlegmons of the head and neck. In all of them, as a routine procedure, mate¬rial was taken from the surgical wound for microbiological examination and the identification of the isolated bacteria was confirmed by a microbiological analyzer “VITEK” (“BioMérieux”, France). After analyzing the obtained results, the goal was confirmed - the largest part is of the resident microflora (59.5%, n=34) of which 50.75% (n=29) mixed resident microflora and 8.75% (n=5) mono infections, followed by represen¬tatives of Gram-positive bacteria (15.75 %, n=9), Gram-negative ones (5.25%, n=3) and obligate anaerobes (1.75%, n=1). In the studied group of patients with non-odontogenic abscesses, Gram-positive bacteria are 3 times more than Gram-negative. The causative agents of phlegmons of non-odontogenic origin in the maxil¬lofacial region are Gram-negative bacteria and obligate anaerobes in a 1:1 ratio. Unlike patients with odonto¬genic purulent diseases, in which the young population under the age of 44 is most affected, non-odontogenic abscesses and phlegmons most often affect mature individuals between the ages of 45 and 59.