The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 17, Issue 2 201-205, Copyright © 1984 by Society for General Microbiology
The association of particular types of Proteus with chronic suppurative otitis media
B. W. Senior and G. Sweeney
During a period of 12 months, 57 strains of Proteus were isolated from the
ears of 38 unrelated patients with chronic suppurative otitis media. Each
strain was identified, typed for bacteriocin production and sensitivity,
and tested for Dienes compatibility. The majority of the strains (79%) were
P. mirabilis; all but one of the remainder were P.vulgaris. Although 19
different bacteriocin production/sensitivity types were found, two rare
types, P. mirabilis P7/S5,12 and P. vulgaris P0/S9, were associated with
47% of these infections. This was confirmed by Dienes typing. Patients with
bilateral ear disease carried a different strain in each ear. There was no
evidence that persistence of infection had arisen because of the
development of antibiotic resistance. Although there was some evidence that
persistence may have been the result of reinfection, the isolation of these
rare types of Proteus from so many patients with chronic suppurative otitis
media may indicate that they play an important role in the pathogenesis of
the disease. Most of the Proteus isolates were of "non-faecal" types and it
is believed that infection had arisen by a route other than the
faecal-aural one.
