Chronic suppurative otitis media in Benghazi; a prospective study

ABSTRACT

A random selection of 120 cases of Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media [CSOM] were investigated for bacterial and fungal isolates at the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Benghazi. The specimens were obtained from the out - patient department of Otolaryngology of <<28th March>> Polyclinic. The incidence of CSOM in Benghazi was found to be 23.7% A total of 145 bacterial isolates were identified and their susceptibility to various antibiotics was tested. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant pathogen isolated [42.5%], followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa [21.16%] and Proteus species [18.33%]. Fungi were isolated from 7.5% of cases, but no growth was observed in 10% of specimens collected. The majority of the bacterial isolates showed multiple drug resistance. Gentamycin still formed the drug of choice in treating the causative strains of either Gram positive or Gram negative bacteria, while tetracycline was found to be the last effective