Browsing by Author "Asmelash Tsehaye"

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    Ear Infections : Etiologic Agents Isolated from Patients Visiting Two Hospitals in Addis Ababa and their Susceptibilities to Antimicrobials
    (Addis Ababa University, 1994-06) Asmelash Tsehaye; A.Gashe Berhanu (PhD)
    Infonnation pertaining to the etiologic agents responsible for ear infection are absent in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was initiated to identify the causative agents together with their sensitivities to antimicrobials. Microbiological samples were collected from 389 ears of 355 patients attending the E. N. T. clinics of two Hospitals (Addis Ababa). Four hundred and twenty (98.4%) bacterial strains and 7 (1.6%) fungi were isolated. Gram-negative bacteria were most frequently encountered. Of these 60.4% were members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Of all the isolates, Proteu spp. (25.5%), Pseudomonas aentginosa (13.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (12.7%), and Klebsiella spp. (9%) were common. All bacterial strains were tested for their susceptibility to antibiotics following a standardized method. Ampicillin, tetracyclline, penicillin, and cephalothin were the least effective antimicrobials in their respective order. Pseudomonas aentginosa was the predominantly resistant organism to several antibiotics (all strains were resistant to one or more antibiotics, 93 % resistant to four or more antibiotics, and 71 % resistant to six or more antibiotics). Strains of Proteus mirabilis were resistant to tetracyclline in 97% and Staphylococcus aureus was resistant to penicillin G in 82 %. This study has showen the polymicrobial etiology of ear infections with P. mirabilis being the dominating organism. Gentamycin and carbenicillin were among the effective agents agaist most of the bacterial isolates.