Bacteriology of Chronic Discharging Ears of Patients in Kano, Nigeria

Bacteriological analyses were carried out in 480 patients, diagnosed as having chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) whose swab specimens were sent to the Medical Microiology Department of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) between July 1997 and December 2001. There were 501 bacterial and fungal isolates in all. While 461(92%) yielded pure cultures, 20(3.9%) showed mixture growth of two organisms each. They were 276(57.5%) males, while 204(42.5%) were females. The highest incidence of 192(40%) cases occurred in 0 – 5 years age group. Although bacterial isolates were diverse in nature, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 157(31.3%), Proteus spp. 131(26.1%), Staphylocuccus aureus 110(21.9%) and Escherichia coli 44(8.8%) occurred predominantly. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of major isolates revealed that over 80% of organisms were sensitive to ceftazidime, gentamicin and ofloxacin. The role of fungal infections in CSOM is also discussed. The aim of this study is to establish the microbial profile of organisms encountered in CSOM and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. This would be of local clinical relevance in view of the dearth of information on this subject in this part of the country. Keywords: Chronic discharging ears, Bacteriology, Antibiogram.keyword; keyword; keyword Journal of Medical Laboratory Sciences Vol. 14 (1) 2005: pp. 57-6