الملخص

Background: Otomycosis is considered one of the fungal infections of external ear which basically affects auditory duct, ear drum and middle ear. Objectives: The present study aimed to find out the prevalence and predisposing factors for Otomycosis among patients of Otorhinolaryngology in Taiz city, Yemen. In addition, it aimed to determine the sensitivity of the isolated otomycosis to some antifungal drugs . Methods: During this study, a total of (300) specimen with otomycosis have been collected from clinically diagnosed patients by using the ear swab technique and identified by microbiological procedures. Results: Distribution of otomycosis has been noticed to be more in females (51.7%) than males (48.3%). The highest infected age groups were between 0-<10 years and 50-<60 accounted for 12.3% and 11.4% respectively and there was a statistically significant association between age and otomycosis (P=0.022), while there was no statistical significance with sex (P=.874). The most common symptoms were pain and itching of the ear with a statistically significant association between them and otomycosis (P=0.00). Humidity highly occurred representing 12% of the tested number of samples. Most of the isolates were filamentous fungi representing 180(60%) of the total isolates. Aspergillus flavus was the most common pathogenic agent and yeast of Candida sp was the second most common representing 89 (29.67%), 38 (12.7%) respectively. Itraconazole and ketoconazole were the most effective antifungal against most filamentous fungi isolates, while Fluconazole, Itraconazole and Clotrimazole were more effective against Candida sp. Conclusions: Filamentous fungi were the most prevalent isolates from infected patients. Antifungal drugs showed reliable activity in vitro.