Assessment of clinical and pathogenic aspects of Otitis media

Abstract

Background: Otitis media (OM) is a group of complex infective and inflammatory conditions affecting the middle ear, with a variety of subtypes differing in presentation, associated complications, and treatment. A number of diseases of the middle ear are summed up under the term otitis media: acute otitis media, recurrent acute otitis media, otitis media with effusion, chronic suppurative otitis media and chronic otitis media epitympanalis (= cholesteatoma). Objectives: Hence; under the light of above mentioned data, the present study was undertaken for assessing the clinical and pathogenic aspects of chronic otitis media. Methods: A total of 25 patients with confirmed diagnosis of otitis media were enrolled in the present study. Middle-ear discharge was taken from each subject and were placed on thioglycollate broth media and immediately sent to the pathogenic analysis. The swab samples were cultured on 5 per cent sheep blood agar, and chocolate agar for isolation of aerobic bacteria, and incubated aerobically at 37°C for 24–48 hours. Identification of the isolates grown was done by suing different microbiological methods.All the results were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: Earache and ear discharge were found to be the prominent clinical manifestation. Deafness and pain were found to be the other presenting symptoms. While assessing the pathogenic profile, it was observed that coagulase-negative staphylococci, S aureus, P aeruginosa, Klebsiella spp. and Proteus spp. were present in 80 percent, 60 percent, 64 percent, 48 percent and 40 percent of the cases. Non-significant results were obtained while assessing the distribution of patients with different clinical profile according to gender.Coagulase-negative staphylococci were seen in 12 males and 8 females. S aureus was found to be present in 10 males and 5 females. P aeruginosa was found to be present in 11 males and 5 females. Klebsiella spp. were found to be present in 8 males and 4 females. Non-significant results were obtained while assessing the microbial growth among patients divided on the basis of gender. Conclusion: Earache and ear discharge are the most common presenting symptom of chronic otitis media with coagulase-negative staphylococci and S. aureus being the prominent micro-organism responsible for it.