CHRONIC suppurative otitis media is a fairly common and sometimes serious disease. In addition to the persistent discharge, which is often foul smelling and disagreeable, there may be serious complications and sequelae, including deafness, meningitis and abscess of the brain. The known treatment of chronic otitis media is far from satisfactory. Conservative types of therapy involve cleansing and drying of the middle ear and instillation of various antiseptics, sulfonamide drugs or penicillin.1 These are successful in some instances, but many patients are benefited only by appropriate surgical measures.
Collins and Hughes1d studied the bacterial flora of 26 ears of 23 previously untreated patients with chronic otitis media and observed that gram-negative bacilli were more frequently present than gram-positive cocci. Repeated cultures of flora from the middle ear cavities of certain patients treated locally with penicillin revealed a complete change from the original, predominantly gram-positive organisms, sensitive to penicillin,