Aims and Objectives: To identify bacterial agents of chronic discharging ear and
determine their antibiotic sensitivities pattern in Ido – Ekiti, Nigeria.
Patients and Methods: Swab specimens of each chronically (>8 weeks) discharging
ears of patients with chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) presenting to
the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic of the Federal Medical Centre, Ido Ekiti
were bacteriologically cultured aerobically and the antibiotic sensitivity
pattern of the recovered organisms determined by the modified Kirby-Bauer
disc-diffusion method over a three year period starting from January 2005.
Results: Seventy eight patients with CSOM whose age ranged between 3 months
and 85 years were seen during the study period with 73.1% of them having
unilateral disease and majority were children <15 years (71.8%). Out of 99 ear
swabs that were examined, 87.9% were culture positive with 90.8% yielding a
single isolate. Coliforms (34.7%) were the most frequent isolated group of
organisms. Other isolates included Staphylococcus aureus (26.3%), Proteus
spp (24.2%), Pseudomonas spp (9.5%) and Klebsiella spp (5.3%). Sparfloxacin
and ciprofloxacin showed highest activity on all the isolates unlike cefuroxime
and ceftiaxone to which all isolates were resistant.
Conclusion: Chronic discharging ear is caused by bacteria agents most sensitiv