A Five-year Review on the Etiology and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Otitis Media Pathogens in Jordanian Children.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to identify the bacteriological agents of otitis media in Jordanian children and to assess the in vitro susceptibility of these isolates to commonly used antibiotics.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of consecutive samples submitted for microbiological evaluation from outpatients children aged between 6 months and 15 years who were clinically diagnosed with otitis media and were treated at Princess Rahma Hospital in North Jordan between January 2005 and December 2009.


RESULTS
A total of 724 isolates were recovered from cultures obtained from 863 children patients giving an isolation rate of 83.8%. The male and female isolate ratio was (1.26:1.0). The most common bacterial species isolated were S. aureus (59.9%) followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (22.4%), Pseudomonas (7.7%), E. coli (5.9%), Klebsiella spp. (3.1%) and Proteus spp. (0.9%). The most of S. aureus isolates were susceptible to vancomycin (94.0%) and gentamicin (87.3%). Streptococcus organisms were susceptible in highest percentage to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (87.1%). Gram-negative isolates were highly susceptible to ciprofloxacin (83.5%) and gentamicin (79.8%). Among all isolates, vancomycin was the most effective antimicrobial agent with susceptibility rate of 83.9%, whereas cefixime showed the lowest susceptibility rate of 39.7%.


CONCLUSIONS
S. aureus isolates were the most frequent bacteria isolated from otitis media and were highly sensitive to vancomycin and gentamicin, while gram-negative isolates were more sensitive to ciprofloxacin and gentamicin.
Mohammad
M
Al-Shara