Aetiologies of Ear Infections Among Patients Who Visited King Fahad Hospital in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

Background Ear infections encompass otitis media (OM) which is a significant cause of hearing loss and otitis externa (OE) which may affect the surrounding tissues leading to serious complications. This study reports the common pathogens causing ear infections. Methods Microbiological, clinical, and demographic data of ear-infected patients who visited King Fahad Hospital in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia, during the period from January 2019 to June 2023 were enrolled in this study. Result This study enrolled 307 patients aged 1-94 years, with a median age of 40 years (IQR=22-57). Overall, the detectable infection rate was 81.1% (n=249), while 18.9% (n=58) had no identified aetiology. Of all isolates, 178 (58%) were bacterial, while 71 (23.1%) were fungal. ( ) followed by ( ), , andcoagulase-negative (CoNS) were the main bacterial isolates. Of the total 63 isolates, 21 (33%) were methicillin-resistant (MRSA). A cohort of 227 subjects were diagnosed with either OM (n=178; 79.5%), OE (n=46; 20.5%), or both OM and OE (n=3; 1%). Of those with OM, children constituted 89.1% (41/46) as compared to 75.3% (134/178) of adults (p=0.041). The main isolates from OM patients were followed by and fungi. Of 49 OE patients, 16 (32.7%) had no identified pathogen, while 15 (30.6%) had fungi, and 13 (29.5%) had Conclusions Ear infections in general were mainly bacterial followed by fungal with a considerable proportion of unidentified aetiology. A significant proportion of isolates were MRSA. followed by and fungi were the main causes of OM, while fungi followed by were the main causes of OE.