| dc.description.abstract | This study was carried out to determine the
aerobic microorganisms involved in chronic
suppurative otitis media (CSOM) and their
antibiotic susceptibility patterns and to formulate
empirical antibiotic guidelines for CSOM patients.
Over a period of 1 year, ear swabs from patients
with CSOM were submitted to the microbiology
laboratory. Patients who had not received
antibiotics for the past three days were recruited.
All organisms were identified using the standard
operating procedures given in the Microbiology
Laboratory Manual. Antibiotic sensitivity testing
was done using the Stokes disc diffusion method.
Ear swabs were taken from 273 patients, of which
257 (94%) yielded positive cultures. Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (52%) was the most frequent isolate,
followed by methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus
aureus (MSSA) (15.7%) and Klebsiellaspp (10.6%).
Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed 95% sensitivity
to ceftazidime and 74% to ciprofloxacin and
gentamicin. MSSA was 100% susceptible to
cloxacillinand 95% and 85% to cotrimoxazole
and gentamicin respectively, but ciprofloxacin
sensitivity was low (35%). We recommend
gentamicin as the topical antibiotic of choice for
empirical treatment of CSOM while ciprofloxacin
and cloxacillin are for systemic therapy.
Performing bacterial culture prior to antibiotics is
necessary to decide on specific treatment. | en_US |
