Clinical effectiveness of ototopical application of mupirocin ointment in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus otorrhea.
OBJECTIVE
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) otorrhea has become an increasing problem with regard to infection through the tympanic membrane perforation and postsurgical infection. In particular, dry ear, at the preoperative stage, is considered to be a crucial factor in surgery. We evaluated how to control MRSA otorrhea before and after ear surgery.


METHODS
Twenty-six patients having MRSA otorrhea were enrolled in the present study and randomly divided into 2 groups, namely, mupirocin ointment therapy for 16 patients and ofloxacin ear drops for 10 patients. Approximately 0.6 mg of mupirocin ointment was administered locally to the tympanic membrane and the promontory around and through the perforation with its adjacent external ear canal 1 to 4 times for 2 or 3 weeks at the clinic. On the other hand, ofloxacin ear drops were administered daily by the patients for 2 or 3 weeks at home.


RESULTS
Complete elimination of MRSA from the ear was obtained in all patients of the mupirocin group. This showed a significant improvement (p < 0.001) as compared with the ofloxacin group (improvement + cure rate, 40%). Local application of mupirocin did not aggravate hearing acuity of any patients who were evaluated by pure-tone audiometry before and after treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The present findings first indicate that minimally essential application of mupirocin ointment is an extremely useful ototopical agent against MRSA otorrhea without ototoxicity.
Furukawa
Masayuki
M
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Minekawa
Akira
A
Haruyama
Takuo
T
Narui
Yuya
Y
Sugita
Gen
G
Sugita
Rinya
R
Kusunoki
Takeshi
T
Ikeda
Katsuhisa
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002558:Cerebrospinal Fluid Otorrhea / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D008875:Middle Aged; D016712:Mupirocin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016712:Mupirocin