No abstract

Background: Chronic Suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is one of the commonest disease seen in all age groups. It is one of the leading causes of deafness if treatment is not initiated at early stage. As newer antibiotics are frequently used for the treatment of CSOM, change in the microbial flora is inevitable. The aim of this study is to know the organisms causing CSOM and the antibiotics that are effective against these microorganisms. Methods: This study was done in a 500 bedded tertiary care hospital and patients presenting with history of more than three months of ear discharge were included in the study. The ear discharge was taken with a sterile swab and sent to the microbiology laboratory for processing. Standard microbiological procedures were followed for identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing. Results: Our study showed staphylococcus aureus including methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (47%) as the predominant organism followed by pseudomonas sp (23%). Staphylococcus aureus was found to be highly sensitive to clindamycin (96%), gentamicin (85%) and ciprofloxacin (74%). Pseudomonas sp was found to be highly sensitive to imipenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and ciprofloxacin (90%).Conclusion: Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism causing CSOM in our study. Ampicillin was found to be highly resistant and ciprofloxacin was found to be an effective antibiotic to treat both gram positive and gram negative infections. Hence we conclude that ciprofloxacin can be used as an empirical antibiotic for patients with CSOM.