Bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of otitis media in Ayder Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mekelle University, Northern Ethiopia

Middle Ear infection is a common problem for both children and adults particularly in resource limited countries. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia and particularly in the study area, there is scarcity of recent data that indicate the magnitude of the problem. Thus this study aimed to identify bacterial isolates and determine their drug susceptibility patterns from patients who had ear infection. Cross sectional study was carried out on patients with ear infection and who visited the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic of Ayder referral and teaching hospital from November 2014 to June 2015. Middle ear discharges were collected and processed for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing using standard bacteriological techniques. Clinical and demographic data were collected using standard questionnaire. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Of the total of 162 patients with ear discharges, 68.5 % were from rural areas, 71 % with chronic infection, 54.9 % referred cases and 67.3 % of them had decreased hearing status. Pathogens were isolated from 157 (98.2 %) of the patients with a total of 216 isolates. Staphylococcus aureus 46 (28.4 %), Proteus mirabilis 39 (24.1 %), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 27 (16.7 %), Klebsiella spp. and Haemophilus influenzae 18 (11.1 % each) were the dominant bacteria. Out of the individuals with ear infection, single and mixed bacterial infection was seen among 185 (90.7 %) and 59 (39.5 %) respectively. Age group of 0–5 years (p = 0.02), chronic patients (p = 0.042) and referred cases (p = 0.045) showed high bacterial isolates. High resistance was seen to most antibiotics. Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin Norfloxacin and Erythromycin were effective against isolated bacteria. The overall multi drug resistance rate of bacteria in this study was 74.5 %. Prevalence of bacteria associated with otitis media and multidrug resistance was very high in the study area. Ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, norfloxacin and erythromycin can be used to treat otitis media. Treatment of patients should be based on antimicrobial susceptibility test to prevent complications, development of further antibiotic resistance and extra treatment costs.