Microorganisms isolated from infected aural fistulas.

Aural fistula is a congenital deformity of the external ear relatively common in Orientals and rare in Caucasians. Suppuration tends to occur, and chemotherapy rather than surgical drainage should be attempted. However, the lack of information concerning infected aural fistulas has made appropriate chemotherapy difficult. Microorganisms isolated from 13 cases of infected aural fistulas were studied from January 1981 to December 1982. Six species and 22 strains were isolated; nonsporeforming faculative anaerobes were detected in 12 cases. The isolated pathogens included Peptococcus sp (10 cases), Peptostreptococcus sp (3), Bacteroides sp (3), and Fusobacterium sp (2). One case exhibited only Staphylococcus aureus. Our data also stresses the etiologic importance of anaerobic gram-positive cocci in infected aural fistulas.