Aerobic bacteriology of active chronic otitis media & its antibiotic susceptibility pattern among patients attending a tertiary care centre in Vijayapura, Karnataka

Background: Active Chronic Otitis Media is a pertinacious disease of the middle ear, capable of causing severe destructive sequelae, with the manifestations of deafness, discharge and a permanent perforation. It is one of the most common childhood diseases, more common in India. Aim of Study was to elucidate the microbial predominance and chart its antibiotic susceptibility pattern among the patients of this disease. The emergence of drug resistant strains along with changing Antibiotic susceptibility profile makes it necessary to undertake this study. Material and Methods: 138 Patients who attended the OPD & IPD of a tertiary centre in Vijayapur were included. They were diagnosed as Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media by ENT Surgeons & had not received topical and/or systemic antibiotics, minimum 5 days before sample collection. Isolation & identification of bacteria was done by standard microbiological methods & their Antibiotic Susceptibility testing (AST) was done by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method (CLSI guidelines). Results: Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media was found to be more common in females (55%) than males (45%), more common in age group 1-10 years (31%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa (42%) was the most common organism to be isolated followed by Staphylococcus aureus (37%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed maximum sensitivity to Amikacin (96%) and Piperacillin (96%). Staphyloco ccus aureus was maximum sensitive to Gentamicin (94%) & Linezolid (94%). Conclusion: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (42%) was the most common organism to be isolated and showed maximum sensitivity to Amikacin (96%) and Piperacillin (96%).