Author(s)

Saed N. Ahmed

Departments of Health Services and Public Health, Ministry of Health Development, Hargeisa, Somaliland.

Background: Otitis media (OM) is a group of inflammatory diseases of the middle ear. OM is a prevailing problem among children in Hargeisa. The antibiotic susceptibility of etiologic bacteria is not investigated in Somaliland which hinders the effective treatment of OM cases in children. Objective: This study aimed at determining the etiologic bacteria and its antibiotic susceptibilities in children presenting with OM to a pediatric referral hospital in Hargeisa for the period March 2013-May 2017. Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted on a random sample of 270 children with OM. The laboratory used standard microbiological techniques for bacterial isolation and Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Data were entered and analyzed using Epi Info 7 and any associations among the study variables tested with Chi2 test with confidence level of 95% and p value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The rate of bacterial isolation was 96.3%. The predominant bacterial isolate was S. aureus (31.48%) followed by P. aeruginosa (24.81%) and P. mirabilis (15.93%) respectively while the least prevalent isolates were coagulase negative Staphylococcus (1.48%), S. pyogenes (0.74%) and Enterobacter spp. (0.37%) in descending order. Age group 0 - 3, χ² (143,270 = 223.245, p = 0.000) showed highest bacterial isolation. There was no significant relationship between bacterial isolate and gender, χ² (11,270 = 9.2283, p = 0.6008). S. aureus showed highest sensitivity towards ciprofloxacin (85.7%), amikacin (76.5%), and gentamicin (73.8%). All isolates showed mixed resistance pattern. Conclusion: S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and P. mirabilis were the leading causative pathogens of otitis media. No association was established between isolate distribution and gender. Both the isolated gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria showed greatest sensitivity towards ciprofloxacin while the highest resistance was observed to penicillins, tetracyclines and sulfonamides. The Otitis Media among children in Hargeisa could be possibly treated, based on the antibiogram of the major associated bacteria, with topical and systemic formulations of the following antibiotic groups: fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and 3rd gen. cephalosporins.

Otitis Media, Children, Etiologic Bacteria, Antibiotic Susceptibility, Treatment

Ahmed, S. (2023) Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Isolated Bacteria from Otitis Media in Children at Mohamed Aden Sheikh Children Teaching Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 11, 57-70. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2023.116004.