Identification of Fungal Agents Associated With Otitis Media Among Patients Attending The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic At Federal Medical Centre Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
This study focused on identifying fungi associated with otitis media among patients attending the ENT clinic at Federal Medical Centre, Owerri. A total of 137 samples comprising 67 males and 70 females were collected randomly from patients within the ages of 0-70 years. Each sample was cultured on two parts of media; Sabouraud Dextrose Agar supplemented with Chloramphenicol and on CHROMagar followed by incubation at both room temperature and 37oC for 14 days to isolate and identify fungal agents therein. Out of the137 samples, 60(43.8%) were positive for fungal agents. Candida albicans was the highest fungal isolate with a frequency of 36(60%). Followed by Aspergillus species; 10(16.7%), Penicillium species; 9(15.6%) and Rhizopus species 5(8.3%). They were identified using KOH mount, Germ tube test, Gram staining, colour differentiation on CHROMagar and reverse pigmentation. The female participants showed a higher prevalence of Candida species (55.7%) than the males; (31.3%). Age group 0-10 years had the highest number of Candida species isolate with 22(64.7%), while 31-40 years 1(7.7%) had the lowest prevalence.