Abstract

Sixty (60) samples from both hospitalized and ambulatory patients seeking medical care in University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) and Nedeke Peadiatric Hospital (NPH) in Uyo were screened for the microorganisms associated with otitis media between June and December, 2007. The number of occurrence of bacterial species out of the total isolates ranged from 1 and 15 with the percentage frequency between 1.49 and 22.38%. The following Bacteria were isolated from otitis media samples:Moraxella spp., Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Bacillus spp. andEscherichia coli, with a predominance of Streptococcus spp. The number of occurrence of fungal species in the samples ranged between 1 to 18 with the percentage frequency between 2.04 and 20.4%. Fungi isolated from otitis media samples were Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., Cephalosporium spp., Penicilliumspp., and Candida spp., with Aspergillus spp. predominating. Forty nine patients (81.6%) had a single organism isolated from the middle ear culture, while the remaining 11(18.4%) patients had two or more organisms isolated. Infection was highest among the 1 - 10 years, and the lowest among aged 31 and above. The study revealed that there were higher numbers of bacteria associated with otitis  media than fungi in Uyo.

Key words: Otitis media, prevalence, infection, Nigeria.