BACKGROUND Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (CSOM) is caused by a mixed bacterial infection. In India, the trend is to start an empirical treatment in patients presenting with history of discharge from the ear before a lab report on culture of pus is available. This study is to note the effect of general practice of choosing the empirical antibiotics, both systemic and topical to treat CSOM patients by isolating and culture of organism in CSOM; to investigate their sensitivity to various antibiotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS212 patients attending the ENT Department of a Teaching Hospital in Northern Kerala with history of discharge from the ears and already using antibiotics were included for this study. Culture swabs were taken from all patients suffering from CSOM (both types) and sent to the Microbiology Department for processing. The specimens were cultured and the isolates were identified using standard microbiological techniques. The antibiotic susceptibilities of the isolates were determined with standard antibiotic discs using the disc diffusion method. RESULTSThis study analyses the trends of using antibiotics by the practitioners in the community, isolation and culture of causal organisms and their sensitivity to various antibiotics. The major organisms isolated were Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus [MSSA] (48.21%) followed by S. aureus (MRSA) 18.75%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.50%) and Klebsiella (7.14%). The sensitivity of S. aureus (MSSA) was 52% to Amoxicillin, 58.2% to Amoxicillin and clavulanic acid combination. Staph MRSA showed 100% sensitivity to the same antibiotics respectively. Ceftazidime and Cephalothin were effective against Pseudomonas in 73.4 and 66.8% respectively. Topical antibiotics like Gentamicin showed susceptibility rate against all the organism of CSOM ranging from 22 to 86.2%, followed by Chloramphenicol ranging from 18.6 to 71%. CONCLUSIONThe study of microbial pattern and their antibiotic sensitivity determined the prevalent bacterial organisms causing CSOM in the community where empirical antibiotics are used. The information is useful in treating CSOM and its complications for a successful outcome and thus to prevent the emergence of resistant strains.

BACKGROUNDSuppurative otitis media is a very common disease in ENT practice in all age groups, but in children it represents an important cause of preventable hearing loss. Physicians attending such patients tend to use antibiotics in the first instance empirically. Even though many studies are available on the susceptibility profiles of the bacteria isolated from the ear discharge, the susceptibility of these organisms varies from time to time and from place to place. Hence, such studies are required periodically to evaluate the changing trends in bacterial susceptibility following isolation.Objective of this study is to isolate and identify the bacteria and study their antibiotic susceptibility profiles in children attending the Government ENT Hospital in Hyderabad. MATERIALS AND METHODSBetween December 2008 and November 2012, a cross-sectional study was conducted at Government ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyderabad on 320 ear discharge samples collected from children attending with complaints of suppurative otitis media. Standard microbiological procedures adopted in collection, isolation and culture sensitivity of the samples.