Clinical and microbiological study of canine otitis in a veterinary hospital in the northwest of São Paulo state, Brazil

Abstract

A canine otitis is the most common disease of the ear canal in dogs and represents 8-15% of cases treated in the medical clinic of small animals. This study aimed to do a retrospective evaluation of 274 medical records of dogs with external otitis treated at the “Dr Halim Atique” Hospital during the period of January 2006 to August 2010. It was performed the analysis of paper and electronic records in way to examine the influence of sex, age and breed of animals in external otitis. After that, it was done the description of etiologic agents and sensibility test for antimicrobials. Two hundred and fourteen cultures were positive (78.68%) for the growth of microorganisms, and 60 (21.32%) were negative. Regarding to culture growth, the frequency of Staphylococcus spp. was 47.08%; Proteus spp. of 14.39%; Pseudomonas spp. 13.23%; 10.31% of Escherichia coli and others. Bigger bacterial isolation was described in the age group of 0-3 years (p = 0.059), accounting for 89 cases (32.04%). Regarding the breed, 59 (21.24%) were mongrel dogs and 40 Poodles (14.40%). There was no statistical difference between the microorganism isolation and the sex. The distribution of external otitis according to sex and monomicrobial infection in females was of 113 cases (41.22%) and 63 males (22.97%). Monomicrobial infection was significantly higher compared to polymicrobial (p < 0.0001). There was a higher sensitivity, a statistically significant of Staphylococcus spp., cephalexin (60.86%), ciprofloxacin (59,09%) and enrofloxacin (59,09%) were statistically significant compared to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (16.66%). Keywords: External otitis, dogs, Staphylococcus spp.