Isolation and antimicrobial drug susceptibility pattern of bacterial pathogens from pediatric patients with otitis media in selected health institutions, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a prospective cross-sectional study.

Background: Otitis media is inflammation of the middle ear and tympanic membrane, which often occurs after an acute upper respiratory tract infection. It is the most common episode of infection in children and the second most important cause of hearing loss affecting 1.23 billion people, thus ranked fifth global burden of disease with a higher incidence in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the isolation rate of bacterial pathogens from pediatric patients with otitis media.

Methodology: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2013-June 2014 in Addis Ababa among 210 pediatrics patients. Demographic, clinical and associated factors data was obtained in face to face interview with guardians/parents by 5 trained nurse data collectors using structured questionnaire. Middle ear drainage swab was collected following all aseptic procedures and transported to the microbiology laboratory. Culture and Antimicrobial sensitivity test were performed according to the standards. The data quality was assured by questionnaire translation, retranslation and pretesting. Reference strains were used as a positive and negative control for biochemical tests, and culture results were cross checked. Data was checked for completeness, consistency and then entered into Epi Info v3.5.1 and analyzed by SPSS v20. Data interpretation was made using graphs, tables, and result statements.

Result: A total of 196 middle ear drainage swab samples were analyzed from pediatric patients and of those 95 (48.5%) samples were positive for pathogenic organisms. The major isolate was S. aureus (15.8%) followed by P. aeruginosa (10.9%), Viridians streptococcus (9.9%), S. pneumoniae (8.9%) and S. pyogenes (7.9%). Upper respiratory tract infection history and living in the rural area have shown significant association with the isolation of pathogenic organism, (p-value = 0.035) and (p-value = 0.003) respectively. Most of the isolates show a high level of resistance to Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole, Penicillin G, Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, and Chloramphenicol.

Conclusion: S. aureus and P. aeruginosa are the most common pathogens that contribute to otitis media as well most of the isolates show a high level of resistance to commonly used drugs to treat otitis media. Therefore, culture and susceptibility testes have paramount importance for the better management of otitis media and drug-resistant infections.