Microbiological Study On Patients Suffering From External Ear Infections

Abstract

Many of recent studies revealed that infections of the external ear are frequent in tropical and subtropical countries. In area under the study, Upper Egypt, as a subtropical area, the conditions are highly favorable and suitable for bacterial and fungal infections of the external ear. In this study 233 bacterial strains and 200 fungal isolates we,,r, e isolated and identified from 200 patients suffering from external ear intection. Patients

were attending the E.N.T. departments of El-Minia & Assiut University hospitals. The patient represented variable age groups, cultures and sex. According to the clinical sitting, patients were classified into two groups. The first group was clinically diagnosed as otomycosis "fungal ear infection, 142 patients".. The second group diagnosed as otitis externa "bacterial ear infection, 58 patients". One hundred forty eight fungal strains and 158 bacterial isolates were recovered from patients suffering from otomycosis. On the other hand, 52 fungal strains and 75 bacterial isolates were recovered from patients suffering from otitis externa. Mixed bacterial and fungal infections werefound to be high in both otomycosis and otitis externa (87.1% and 91.1% respectively). Out of the bacterial isolates, Staph. aureus was the most frequent organism (40.3%) followed by Staph. a/bus (34.8%), Pseudomonas spp. (9%), while E.coli, Citrobacter spp, Enterobacter spp. and Morganella morganii were the least common isolates (1.3% each). Out of the isolated Staph. aureus, 11.7 % were methicillin resistant Staph. aureus (MRSA). Out of the isolated fungi, Aspergillus spp. were the most frequent isolates (58.5%) followed by C. albicans (36%). Saccharomyces cervisiae, Penicillium and Rhizopus spp. showed the lowest incidences (2%, 2% and 1.5% respectively). The sensitivity pattern for the isolated bacterial strains revealed that ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, amikacin, cefotaxime,