Oropharyngeal microflora in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian children. An indicator of environmental contamination

Abstract

Faecal microorganisms, not normally resident in the oropharynx, were isolated much more often from Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal Australian children. This is almost certainly due to differences in standards of hygiene and living in these two groups, and is an important factor in contributing to the common and serious problem of gastrointestinal infections in young Aborigines. In the non-Aboriginal group, the isolations of faecal organisms were much more common from infants and from children under the age of two years when compared with older children; this is probably due to the readiness of spreading microorganisms from the gastrointestinal tract to the mouth in the younger children.