Asya Orhan, Karaketir Semih, Görçin Karaketir Şeyma, Yılmaz Ali Bilgin
Clinic of Otolaryngology, Malazgirt State Hospital, Muş, Turkey.
Public Health Specialist, Malazgirt District Health Directorate, Muş, Turkey.
Turk Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Sep;60(3):134-141. doi: 10.4274/tao.2022.2022-6-14. Epub 2022 Nov 15.
Otoacariasis is the presence of ticks and mites in the ear canals of humans or animals, and particularly common in rural areas. This study aimed to present the clinical characteristics of patients that presented with ticks in their ear canal.
The study was conducted with a total of 425 patients with 527 ticks in their ear canal at the Muş Malazgirt State Hospital Ear-Nose-Throat Clinic between June 2019 and June 2020. The removed ticks were examined at the parasitology laboratory of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University.
Of the 425 cases included in the study, 72% (n=306) were female and 28% (n=119) were male (mean age 40±20, minimum-maximum: 4 months-81 years). A total of 527 ticks were removed in the one-year period. Three-hundred-and-fifty-one patients had adult or nymph ticks, and 74 patients had a larval form of the tick. Of the patients with adult or nymph tick, foreign body sensation was the dominant symptom in 68.7% (n=242), whereas pain was the dominant symptom in 62% (n=46) of those with larval tick. In the comparison between groups, foreign body sensation was statistically significantly higher in the adult tick group, and pain was higher in the larval tick group (p<0.001). There were no systemic diseases related to the ticks in any of the cases.
Ticks in the ear is endemic in Eastern Anatolia and poses a public health problem. Tick infestations could be minimized with various precautions and educating the general public on preventive methods. Our study is the largest series in the literature on cases with ear ticks.
耳螨病是指蜱虫和螨虫存在于人类或动物的耳道内，在农村地区尤为常见。本研究旨在呈现耳道内有蜱虫的患者的临床特征。
2019年6月至2020年6月期间，在穆什马拉兹吉尔特州立医院耳鼻喉科门诊对总共425例耳道内有527只蜱虫的患者进行了研究。取出的蜱虫在凡于祖尔大学寄生虫学实验室进行检查。
纳入研究的425例病例中，72%（n = 306）为女性，28%（n = 119）为男性（平均年龄40±20岁，最小 - 最大年龄：4个月 - 81岁）。在这一年期间共取出527只蜱虫。351例患者的蜱虫为成虫或若虫，74例患者的蜱虫为幼虫形态。在有成虫或若虫蜱虫的患者中，68.7%（n = 242）以异物感为主要症状，而在有幼虫蜱虫的患者中，62%（n = 46）以疼痛为主要症状。组间比较显示，成虫蜱虫组的异物感在统计学上显著更高，幼虫蜱虫组的疼痛更明显（p < 0.001）。所有病例中均无与蜱虫相关的全身性疾病。
耳内蜱虫在东安纳托利亚地区呈地方性流行，构成公共卫生问题。通过各种预防措施以及对公众进行预防方法教育，可将蜱虫感染降至最低。我们的研究是文献中关于耳蜱病例的最大系列研究。
