RESUMO
In a multicenter study of 544 consecutive ear-swab referrals cultured during a 9-month period ending June 1999. Staph. aureus [38.6%] and Pseudomonas spp. [28.5%] accounted for 67% of isolates among 10 bacterial species, Aspergillus niger [7.1%] and Candida albicans [3.8%] were two fungal agents also recognized. Subjects clinically suspected of otomycosis presented mainly with chronicity, itching and fullness of ear, sometimes with hearing impairment, otorrhoea and occasionally pain, gender and age were other unidirectional variables did not influence the study. Sterile alginate-tipped swabs of wet discharge of desquamated material from the external auditory canal were examined directly by light microscopy of a smear in 20% KOH, and by paired culture on Sabouraud-Dextrose and Chocolate agar plates incubated at 30°C and 37°C for 1-3 days. Aspergilli were visible in some cases with mycelium in black-gray clumps in the external ear canal, in contrast to Candida, which presented with a whitish discharge