RELATION OF VARIOUS FUNGI TO OTOMYCOSIS

Abstract

IT HAS BEEN over a century since Mayer (1844) originally described a disease of the external canal of the ear caused by a fungus. At the present time the literature concerning this type of infection, known as otomycosis, contains reports of numerous cases in which a great variety of fungi were isolated. Reports of such cases describe symptoms and signs which were exceedingly diverse and suggest methods of treatment as numerous as the fungi isolated. It is believed that a factor of great importance in explaining this chaotic state of the medical knowledge with respect to otomycosis has been the failure to recognize that the disease is not an entity but, rather, may embrace a number of different diseases caused by widely diverse groups of organisms. In this respect, fungi are seldom isolated from the ear in pure culture but are frequently accompanied by bacteria. It is not definitely known,