Enumeration of the Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Different Bacterial Isolates from ENT Patients with Ear Infections

Abstract

Children are more susceptible to ear infection than adults worldwide, especially in developing countries. In Bangladesh like other developing countries antibiotics is a common choice of treatment in an ear infection. This study was sought to determine causative agents both in right and left ear infection and their antibacterial susceptibility pattern from patients with an ear infection. Specimens of ear discharge were collected aseptically using a sterile swab and cultured on MacConkey’s agar, blood agar, and chocolate agar. After inoculating on appropriate culture media bacterial isolates were identified by their colony morphology, culture characteristics, Gram reaction, and biochemical tests. In this study, a total of 70 positive cases of patients were included. Among these 27 (38.6%) were male, and 43(61.4%) were female. The prevalence of ear infection was significantly high in females (61.4%) than males (38.6%). The predominant bacterial isolates from positive culture were Staphylococcus aureus 43(61.4%), followed by Pseudomonas spp., 13 (18.6%), Streptococcus spp., 8(11.4%), Proteus spp., 5(7.2%), and Klebsiella spp., 1(1.4%). The antibacterial agent like Amikacin and Gentamicin showed a high level of antibacterial effect on all identified bacterial isolates. On the other hand, 98.6% of isolates were found highly resistant to Co-Trimoxazole and Flucloxacillin. Moreover, Streptococcus spp., Proteus spp., Klebsiella spp., and Pseudomonas spp., were highly resistant to multiple drugs (more than 4). A high degree of antibiotic resistance was observed among most of the drugs used in this study. However, Amikacin and Gentamicin were highly effective against the isolated bacterial species. Therefore, culture and susceptibility tests are vital for the appropriate treatment of ear infection.