Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
Mycopathologia. 2015 Jun;179(5-6):415-24. doi: 10.1007/s11046-015-9864-7. Epub 2015 Jan 30.
Fungal infection of the external auditory canal (otitis externa and otomycosis) is a chronic, acute, or subacute superficial mycotic infection that rarely involves middle ear. Otomycosis (swimmer's ear) is usually unilateral infection and affects more females than males. The infection is usually symptomatic and main symptoms are pruritus, otalgia, aural fullness, hearing impairment, otorrhea, and tinnitus. Fungal species such as yeasts, molds, dermatophytes, and Malassezia species are agents for otitis externa. Among molds, Aspergillus niger was described as the most common agent in the literature. Candida albicans was more prevalent than other yeast species. Otomycosis has a worldwide distribution, but the prevalence of infection is related to the geographical location, areas with tropical and subtropical climate showing higher prevalence rates. Otomycosis is a secondary infection and is more prevalent among swimmers. As a result, a higher incidence is reported in summer season, when more people interested in swimming. Incidence of otomycosis in our review ranged from 5.7 to 81 %, with a mean value of 51.3 %. Our results showed that 78.59 % of otomycosis agents were Aspergillus, 16.76 % were Candida species, and the rest (4.65 %) were other saprophytic fungi. Among Iranian patients, incidence of infection was highest in summer, followed by autumn, winter, and spring. In Iran, otomycosis was most prevalent at the age of 20-40 years and the lowest prevalence was associated with being <10 years old. The sex ratio of otomycosis in our study was (M/F) 1:1.53.
外耳道真菌感染（外耳炎和真菌性外耳炎）是一种慢性、急性或亚急性浅表真菌感染，很少涉及中耳。真菌性外耳炎（游泳耳）通常为单侧感染，女性多于男性。感染通常有症状，主要症状有瘙痒、耳痛、耳闷、听力下降、耳漏和耳鸣。引起外耳炎的真菌种类有酵母菌、霉菌、皮肤癣菌和马拉色菌等。霉菌中，黑曲霉被描述为文献中最常见的病原体。白色念珠菌比其他酵母种类更为普遍。真菌性外耳炎分布于世界各地，但感染的流行率与地理位置有关，热带和亚热带气候地区的流行率较高。真菌性外耳炎是一种继发性感染，在游泳者中更为常见。因此，夏季游泳人数增加时，发病率更高。我们的综述中真菌性外耳炎的发病率为 5.7%至 81%，平均值为 51.3%。结果显示，78.59%的真菌性外耳炎病原体为曲霉属，16.76%为念珠菌属，其余（4.65%）为其他腐生真菌。在伊朗患者中，夏季感染率最高，其次是秋季、冬季和春季。在伊朗，真菌性外耳炎最常见于 20-40 岁年龄组，发病率最低与<10 岁年龄组相关。我们的研究中真菌性外耳炎的性别比例为（男/女）1:1.53。
