Otomycosis: A common problem in North Iraq

Abstract

Otomycosis is a common disease in North Iraq. Of the 219 cases diagnosed clinically in Mosul Teaching Hospital seen during a 15 month period, 179 were due to fungus infection. The disease was more frequently encountered in young adults whose age was range from 16–30 years. The incidence of the disease was significantly higher in females (65.4 per cent), mainly housewives, than in males. Aspergillus species were the dominant isolated fungi (92.1 per cent).

Otomycosis: a clinical and mycological study

“…Aspergillus was the common isolate in 63% cases, followed by Aspergillus niger with Candida albicans (10%), Penicillium in 4% cases and Candida in 3% cases. The results of the present study correlate with the study of Yehia et al and Than et al 17,18 In the present study, coagulase negative staphylococcus was seen in 32% cases, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12%), Staphylococcus aureus (16%), E. coli (11%), Klebsiella (10%) and Proteus species in 8%. Staphylococcus areas are the most common bacterial isolate in a study by Arshad et al and Darko et al 19,20 An attempt was made to evaluate the therapeutic effect of four antifungal agents.…”

Otomycosis – A Clinico-pathological Study

“…This phenomenon is believed to be due to the right handedness of most of the patients with habit of ear poking, but same findings are not found in other studies. 10,16 Bilateral otomycosis in the current study came out to be 26.21% which is in line with other studies. 14,17 Among the various symptoms produced by otomycosis, blockage of ear was the most common symptom in our study.…”

Type of Antifungals: Does it Matter in Empirical Treatment of Otomycosis?

“…This disease is well prevalent in people coming from rural area surrounding our institution. There is a female predominance (59 %) in our study, which well correlates with the studies by Jia X [15] and Yehia MM [16]. The most common presenting complaint in our study is ear pain, which is same in Tang Ho study [10], but Kurshid Anwar coded hearing loss as the most common presentation in otomycosis [17].…”