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. 2024 Aug 27;16(8):e67885.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.67885. eCollection 2024 Aug.

Aetiologies of Ear Infections Among Patients Who Visited King Fahad Hospital in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

Hasan Alfahemi  1 , Mohammed Alghamdi  2 , Mujtaba A Fadlalla  2 , Muhammad Halwani  1 , Rabei M Elbadry  3 , Mujahid K Alghamdi  4 , Fahad S Alghamdi  4 , Abdullah M Alghamdi  4 , Talal A Sallam  1
Affiliations

Aetiologies of Ear Infections Among Patients Who Visited King Fahad Hospital in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

Hasan Alfahemi et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Background Ear infections encompass otitis media (OM) which is a significant cause of hearing loss and otitis externa (OE) which may affect the surrounding tissues leading to serious complications. This study reports the common pathogens causing ear infections. Methods Microbiological, clinical, and demographic data of ear-infected patients who visited King Fahad Hospital in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia, during the period from January 2019 to June 2023 were enrolled in this study. Result This study enrolled 307 patients aged 1-94 years, with a median age of 40 years (IQR=22-57). Overall, the detectable infection rate was 81.1% (n=249), while 18.9% (n=58) had no identified aetiology. Of all isolates, 178 (58%) were bacterial, while 71 (23.1%) were fungal. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Enterobacteriaceae, andcoagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) were the main bacterial isolates. Of the total 63 S. aureus isolates, 21 (33%) were methicillin-resistant (MRSA). A cohort of 227 subjects were diagnosed with either OM (n=178; 79.5%), OE (n=46; 20.5%), or both OM and OE (n=3; 1%). Of those with OM, children constituted 89.1% (41/46) as compared to 75.3% (134/178) of adults (p=0.041). The main isolates from OM patients were S. aureus followed by P. aeruginosa and fungi. Of 49 OE patients, 16 (32.7%) had no identified pathogen, while 15 (30.6%) had fungi, and 13 (29.5%) had P. aeruginosa. Conclusions Ear infections in general were mainly bacterial followed by fungal with a considerable proportion of unidentified aetiology. A significant proportion of S. aureus isolates were MRSA. S. aureus followed by P. aeruginosa and fungi were the main causes of OM, while fungi followed by P. aeruginosa were the main causes of OE.

Keywords: al-baha; coagulase-negative staphylococcus; ear infections; enterobacteriaceae; otitis externa; otitis media; pseudomonas aeruginosa; staphylococcus aureus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Ethics Research Committee (ERC) of the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University issued approval REC/MIC/BU-FM/2023/10R. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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