Abstract
BackgroundEar infection is a common problem for both children and adults especially in developing countries. However in Ethiopia particularly in the study area, there is no recent data that shows the magnitude of the problem. The aim of this study was to determine the bacterial isolates and their drug susceptibility patterns from patients who had ear infection.MethodA retrospective study was conducted from September, 2009 to August, 2012 at Gondar University Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. Ear discharge samples were cultured on MacConkey agar, blood agar and chocolate agar plates. A standard biochemical procedure was used for full identification of bacterial isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done on Mueller-Hinton agar by using disk diffusion method. Data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20 software and P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultA total of 228 ear discharge samples were tested for bacterial isolation and 204 (89.5%) cases were found to have bacterial isolates. From the total bacterial isolates, 115 (56.4%) were gram negative bacteria and the predominant isolate was proteus species (27.5%). Of individuals who had ear infection, 185 (90.7%) had single bacterial infection while 19 (9.3%) had mixed infections. Under five children were more affected by ear infection. The prevalence of ear infection was significantly high in males (63.7 vs 36.3%) (P = 0.017). Of all bacterial isolates, 192 (94.1%) had multiple antibiotic resistant pattern. Non Lactose Fermenter Gram Negative Rods (46.0%), Klebsella species (47.7%) and Pseudomonas species (48.5%) were resistant against the commonly used antibiotics.ConclusionThe prevalence of ear infection was very high in the study area. Majority of the bacterial isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Hence antibiotics susceptibility test is mandatory before prescribing any antibiotics.
Highlights
Ear infection is a common problem for both children and adults especially in developing countries
Majority of the bacterial isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics
Antibiotics susceptibility test is mandatory before prescribing any antibiotics
Summary
Ear infection is a common problem for both children and adults especially in developing countries. The health-economic burden of ear infection is severe especially in Africa and other developing nations where the disease prevalence is estimated as high as 11% [3]. Ear infection is a common problem for both children and adults but the magnitude is different in different countries. The children’s Eustachian tube is shorter, more horizontal with a more flaccid cartilage which can impair its opening and ear infection is a major health problem of them especially in those with poor socioeconomic status [4]. According to World Health Organization (WHO) survey, countries can be clustered into those having low ear infection when a prevalence rate of ear infection among children is between 1-2% and high when it is 3-6% and Ethiopia belongs to the latter category [7]. Though ear infection can be caused by viruses and fungi infections, the major causes of ear infection are bacterial isolates such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli which are found in the skin of the external ear and enter into the middle ear through a chronic perforation [8,9]
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