Introduction

Otitis media (OM), an inflammation of the middle ear cleft, is a common problem worldwide. Globally, about 65–330 million people suffer from ear infection and 60 % of them had significant hearing impairment.¹It is a prevalent problem for both children and adults especially in developing countries. Due to the low socio-economic status, overcrowding, poor hygiene, inadequate health care, and recurrent upper respiratory tract infection, the burden is high in low and middle income countries.² Clinically, it is classified as acute, sub-acute and chronic depending on duration. Acute otitis media incidence rate is 10.85 % while chronic suppurative otitis media incidence rate is 4.76 %.³

Infection can be spread from middle-ear to vital structures such as mastoid, facial nerve, labyrinth, lateral sinus, meninges and brain leading to mastoid abscess, facial nerve paralysis, deafness, lateral sinus thrombosis, meningitis and intracranial abscess.⁴ Moreover normal flora of the skin such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli that can easily enter through perforated ear have been reported as the main agents of otitis media.⁵

Empiric treatment of ear infection is not always appropriate since drug susceptibility patterns change overtime and empiric antibiotic therapy may not be effective at times and could contribute to development of antimicrobial resistance in the long run.⁶ Early, prompt and effective treatment of ear infection will significantly reduce both short and long term complications. Hence our study aims at determining the bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of ear infections among patients in a tertiary care hospital in India.

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Dr Shafiq A

Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J&K, India