ABSTRACT
A microbiological study was carried out on 100 chronic suppurative otitis media patients. Infection by single organism was observed in 70 patients and mixed infection in 23 cases. On the other hand, no growth was detected in 7 cases. Pure aerobes were isolated from 61% of patients, while pure anaerobes were detected in 7% of cases. However, mixed aerobes and anaerobes were recovered from 15% of cases. Fungi were isolated in association with bacteria from 7 patients, while pure fungi were only detected in 3 cases. The most frequently isolated aerobes were Staph. pyogenes [24%], E. coli [14%], K. aerogenes and proteus spp [12% each], Pseudomonas aeruginosa [11%] and Strept. pyogenes [10%]. On the other hand, the most frequently recovered anaerobes were: Bacteroides fragilis [10%] and peptostreptococcus [7%]. Candida spp. were isolated from 10 cases; C. albicans was the most frequently recovered fungus [8%]. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacteroides fragilis, peptococcus and C. tropicalis were more frequently isolated from patients with history of recurrent upper respiratory tract infection. Three out of 6 patients with cholesteatoma yielded mixed aerobic and anaerobic infection and the other 3 yielded aerobes only