Outer Ear Infections in Iran: A Review

BACKGROUND: Otitis externa is the fungal and bacterial infection of the outer ear. AIM: We aimed to investigate the published papers about the outer ear infections in Iran and suggest standardised investigations and treatments. METHODS: We used different electronic databases like PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Iranmedex, Google Scholar, and Magiran with specific keywords. RESULTS: We obtained forty published full-text articles for review of data. Our results indicated the women were more infected than men. The ages of patients were < 1-81 years. As clinically symptoms, itching and Feel the ear fairy were the most common presenting complaints in most cases. Most infections were the pure bacterial and fungal origin, respectively. However, some of the studies were mixed fungal-bacterial infections — Pseudomonas spp. And Aspergillus niger were the most common bacteria and fungi isolates respectively in Iranian patents. CONCLUSION: Fungal and bacterial specific cultures may be recommended, and anti-fungal drugs may be added, to treatment regimens in patients with otitis externa to reduce the clinical symptoms.