title: Otomycosis in Adolescent Patients Referred to the Therapeutic Centers in Babol City, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Otomycosis is an external ear canal infection caused by various fungi. This disease is prevalent in some tropical and subtropical regions or countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Given the crucial role of fungal agents in the treatment of the disease, the aim of the present study was to identify the fungi in ear canal of patients with otomycosis admitted to the hospitals in Babol City, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 56 patients with otomycosis. After removal of ear infectious samples, some of them were placed on the slides for direct examination and also a portion of them was plated on the Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol for fungal growth. The slides were studied for the presence of fungal elements. Conventional methods were performed to determine fungal colonies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three patients (55.36%) were female and the rest were male. Fungal elements were observed in 11 cases (19.64%) in the direct examination, alone, and 45 specimens (80.36%) had fungi and bacteria combined. Septate mycelia, with 43 cases, had the most frequent fungal elements in direct examination. Aspergillus and Candida genera were the prevalent fungal colonies in culture media.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the role of different genera of fungi in the process of otomycosis, much attention on the macroscopic and microscopic examination of the samples leads to special treatment decisions of a physician.
authors.affiliation: Department of ENT, Roohani Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Keivan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kiakojuri
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rajabnia
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Bahareh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jalili
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Soraya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khafri
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Saeid Mahdavi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Omran
keywords: Aspergillus; Candida; Otomycosis