Abstract

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Sixty (60) children with secretory otitis media and 60 age and sex matched controls were recruited for the study. Ear-discharge swabs were taken from children with secretory otitis media and cultured for microbial isolation and identification. Un-paired student t-test was used to compare the difference between the children with secretory otitis media and the control group, while Chi-squared test was used to determine association between the variables. Different microbial pathogens were isolated from the ears of those with otitis media in Zaria including Staphylococcus aureus (32.7%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20.0%), Escherichia coli (9.1%), Proteus spp. (9.1%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (7.3%), Candida albicans (5.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.5%), Streptococcus pyogenes (5.5%), Corynbacterium diptheriae (3.6%) and Citrobacter fruindii (1.8%).There is a paradigm shift in the aetiology of otitis media from the 3 most common organisms of otitis media to other microbial agents in this part of the world. Therefore, microbial identification should inform the choice of antibiotics before administration.

Keywords: Keywords: Secretory Otitis Media, Zaria, Paradigm shift, Microbial agents