Ear Infection: Overview of Otitis Externa

ear infections (American Academy of Otolaryngology). There are antibiotics for these diseases, but over the years they have been becoming more resistant.

Inflammation of the inner ear can lead to labyrinthitis. In most cases, labyrinthitis develops after an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. This infection spreads into the components of the inner ear, resulting in severe pain, hearing loss, and the dizzy and spinning sensation that affects

*Ear Infections - Fluid trapped in a child’s ears can cause them pain and lead to a fever. This causes great discomfort to the child and parents can feel helpless in not knowing what to do.

This is a diffuse inflammation of the external ear canal. The inflammation may be infective or reactive. The infective can be due to viral, bacterial or fungal. The reactive inflammation can be due to allergic, chemical etc (21).

The patient tells me she noticed about a week ago that her ear was feeling very full of wax. She said it was difficult to hear and she just felt that it was blocked. Her daughter, who is an audiologist was visiting from out of town did not have an otoscope, but looked generally at the outside of her mother's ear, thought that there was probably some wax there, recommended that she see a physician. The patient then asked her daughter about possibly using an over-the-counter flushing system, which she eventually ended up doing. She said that she did not really notice a response after using the flush. She said that she has not noticed any drainage. There has not been any discharge, no bleeding, but now is having ear pain for the last day. Previously, was not having any pain. She also feels as though it is still full. It was uncomfortable if she would touch her ear or move her ear, however that symptom has resolved. She is no longer having that at this time. She does not really feel as though she is having any new cold or cough symptoms. She has not had any fevers. She does struggle with allergies somewhat, but says that they have been under relatively good control currently.

Do you have problems with ear infections, hearing loss, headaches, fluid in the ear and sleep? These are all symptoms of an ear infection caused by bacteria and viruses that are more common in children than in adults.

. This patient has acute otitis media (AOM), which is an infection of the middle ear and presents with signs and symptoms of inflammation such as otalgia, redness, and swelling of ear mucosa. It is important to distinguish it from otitis media with effusion (OME), defined as the presence of non-infectious fluid in the middle ear with no accompanying signs and symptoms of inflammation. The diagnosis of AOM is through pneumatic otoscopy in search of inflamed mucosa, purulent discharge, and poor mobility of the tympanic membrane. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of uncomplicated AOM in children aged 6 months through 12 years is as

Abnormal function of Eustachian tube appears to be the most important factor in the causation of different types of chronic middle ear pathology, ranging from otitis media with effusion to retraction pockets and frank cholesteatoma.(1,2,3) Eustachian tube dysfunction has been linked to pathology within the cartilaginous portion, more often than those of the bony portion. (4) This could be classified into mechanical or functional dysfunction. The mechanical type of dysfunction is attributable to conditions of infective, allergic or obstructive nature in the nose, nasopharynx or the paranasal sinuses. (3, 4) The functional dysfunction, which is due to inherent weakness of tubal muscle, has recently drawn attention in the causation of middle ear pathology. (5,6)

Otitis, the medical term for ear infection, does not sound threatening to a lot of people. However, when the ear gets infected, ear infection symptoms can cause enough discomfort that can compel a person to seek immediate medical attention.

In the case of otitis externa, neonates exhibit inflammation of the acoustic meatus and fever, while older children may present otalgia, pruritus, and tenderness of the tragus and/ or pinna (Buttaravoli & Leffler, 2012). Adults with otitis externa may have the following symptoms; tinnitus, hearing loss, pruritus. Nonetheless, otitis externa appears is common in older children aged 7-12 and young adult population (Tarazi, Al-Tawfiq, & Abdi,

Ear pain can be in or near the inner ear or distant such as referred pain from a distant site. Ear pain is referred to as Otalgia. Inner ear pain known as otitis media occurs when infected fluid is present in the middle ear of the affected ear. This is frequently related to symptoms form a virus or by a bacterial infection. In contrast, the outer ear pain is outside or externa to the tympanic membrane. This is otitis externa. It may be caused by a foreign object, earwax, and even mastoiditis. Acute otitis media however is the most common cause of adult and pediatric ear pain (Sullivan, 2016).

Given the patient’s long history of recurrent ear infections, three pressure equalization tubes placement, described right ear deformity, non-tender lymphadenopathy, and hearing loss, the diagnosis is probably chronic otitis media with right secondary acquired cholesteatoma. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the patient does not present other manifestations of cholesteatoma including, painless otorrhea, dizziness, or central nervous system complications (Lazard, Roger, Denoyelle, Chauvin, & Garabédian, 2007).

Mathematics and science are two subjects that are always advancing. Science discovers a new problem and math discovers a new solution. The science behind an ear infection is simple. Bacteria build up in the Eustachian tubes causing pressure in your ear by not letting air move in and out of it. The mathematic part of preventing an ear infection is still undiscovered. There are ways to avoid getting one, such as, not smoking, tympanostomy tubes, and visiting an ear, nose, and throat

Introduction: Otitis media is an inflammation of the middle ear cleft without reference to etiology or pathogenesis. Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a destructive disease with irreversible sequelae and can proceed to serious intra and or extra cranial complications. For the management of CSOM and for the ENT surgeon to make the discharging ear dry for better results of surgical procedures like myringoplasty and ossiculoplasty study of bacteriology and antibiotic sensitivity is necessary.

The first and the fourth sources fall under the filtered resources. Such resources usually look at the quality of a given study and often make recommendations for practice. These are summaries and analyses of the evidences that are sourced from the primary sources (Curtin University, 2013). The first resource is specific on the subject of diagnosis and treatment of acute otitis media and the third as well is specific on the treatment of acute otitis media. These resources give the particular information relating to the subject based on the various primary findings and evidence based information that had there before gathered from the daily operations within the clinics.