The Microbiology of External Otitides in Puerto Rico

Microbiology of Acute Otitis Externa

“…The incidences of Pseudomonas has varied from a low 12% to a high of 80% and the incidence of staphylococcus has been reported as low as 8.5% and as high as 29%. 10–13 …”

External otitis: A challenge in management

“…Singer et al [13] demonstrated the presence of Pseudomonas in only 1% of 1366 normal ear canals. The low incidence of Peptostreptococcus in normal ears has been confirmed by other investigators [5,12,[16][17][18]. In Singer et al 's study [13] of 524 positive fungal cultures from 1366 normal ears, 35 different species were recovered.…”

“…There are a variety of microorganisms that normally reside within the EAC, including diphtheroids, ␣-hemolytic streptococci, micrococci, nonpathogenic staphylococci (especially Staphylococcus epidermidis), and a variety of fungal organisms, especially Curvularia and Alternaria [12,13]. Brook has recovered anaerobic organisms from the canals of healthy children, principally Propionibacterium acne and Peptococcus species [14,15].…”

“…In Singer et al 's study [13] of 524 positive fungal cultures from 1366 normal ears, 35 different species were recovered. The most common were Curvularia (6.1%) and Alternaria (4.1%) [12,13].…”

“…Fungal external otitis appears to be relatively uncommon [12,30,31]. Singer et al [13] showed that only Aspergillus and Candida were recovered more frequently from infected ears than from uninfected ears.…”