Pathogenic Potential of Turicella otitidis and Staphylococcus auricularis : A Case Report.
Madeline M Marker, Janet S Choi, Tina C Huang
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
Case in brief
A retrospective review identified 13 patients with active acute or chronic otitis media whose ear-canal cultures grew only Turicella otitidis (10 patients) or Staphylococcus auricularis (3 patients). Most had prior otologic surgery (92%) or tympanic membrane perforation (62%). Patients received antibiotic ear drops, sometimes with oral antibiotics; otorrhea resolved in most, while it persisted or recurred in 4. Two of the 3 tested T. otitidis strains were clindamycin-resistant; no resistance was found among S. auricularis isolates to the antibiotics tested.
What made this case unusual
Organisms often regarded as normal aural flora were isolated alone in patients with active infection, frequently in the setting of prior ear surgery or tympanic membrane perforation, raising the possibility of pathogenicity when the epithelial barrier is disrupted.
Diagnostic / clinical pearl
Do not automatically dismiss T. otitidis or S. auricularis as harmless flora when they are isolated alone during active otitis, particularly in patients with prior ear surgery or tympanic membrane perforation.
Why it matters
The findings support further study of how disruption of the ear’s epithelial barrier may contribute to pathogenicity of organisms considered normal aural flora.