--- abstract: 'Background: Recently the worldwide usage of earphones has increased especially among the school and college students who have a high rate of sharing among them. Alike airline headsets, headphones and stethoscope ear-pieces, ear phones can easily be a vector of potential pathogens, which can give rise to otitis externa. Purpose: To compare the bacterial growth of the external ear in association with earphone and assess the role of earphones as vector or microorganisms. Material and Methods: 50 voluntary male subjects (age 18-25 years) were chosen and divided into two groups, A and B, according to the use of earphones. Swabs were taken from their left ear and the left earpiece of the earphone. Samples were processed as recommended. Results: In group A, bacteria were found in 20 (80%) ear and 14 (56%) earphone swabs. In group B, bacteria were found in 23 (92%) ear and 17 (68%) earphone swabs. Group B showed heavy growth and a significant increase in the number of bacterial growths after frequent and constant use. Conclusion: Frequent and constant use of earphones increases the bacterial growth in the ear and sharing of earphones might be a potential vector of commensals. It is therefore, always better not to share or else to clean the earphones before sharing' altloc: - http://www.ojhas.org/issue26/2008-2-4.htm chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: - chiranjay@yahoo.co.in - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ creators_name: - family: Mukhopadhyay given: Chiranjay honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Basak given: Soham honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Gupta given: Soham honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Chawla given: Kiran honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Bairy given: Indira honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2008-07-21 date_type: published datestamp: 2008-09-19 13:59:44 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/62/00 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: - Kakkilaya BS editors_name: - family: Kakkilaya given: Srinivas honourific: Dr. lineage: '' eprint_status: archive eprintid: 6200 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/6200/1/2008%2D2%2D4.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'Bacterial profile, ear, earphone, student' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:57:11 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: 2 pagerange: ~ pubdom: TRUE publication: Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences publisher: Dr. B.S. Kakkilaya refereed: TRUE referencetext: "1.\tStroman DW, Roland PS, Dohar J, Burt W. Microbiology of Normal External Auditory Canal. Laryngoscope 2001;111:2054-9.\r\n2.\tBrook I. Microbioloical Studies of the Bacterial Flora of the External Auditory Canal in Children. Acta Otolaryngol 1981;91:285-7.\r\n3.\tClark WB, Brook I, Bianki D, Thompson DH. Microbiology of Otitis Externa. Otolarungol Head Neck Surg 1997;116:23-5.\r\n4.\tNormal Microbial Flora of the Human Body. In: Brooks GF, Butel JS, Morse SA et al editors - Jawetz, Melnick and Adelberg's Medical Microbiology, 23rd ed., New York : McGraw Hill, 2004:196-7.\r\n5.\tRubin MA, Gonzales R, Sande MA - Infections of the Upper Respiratory Tract. In: Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Longo DL, Braunwald E, Hauser SL, Jameson JL et al editors - Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Volume I, 16th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005:188-9.\r\n6.\tUSA TODAY - Tech Products - For iPod users, a budding problem. Available at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-03-05-ipod-hearing_x.htm (accessed on Mar 21 2008)\r\n7.\tBrook I. Bacterial Flora of Airline Headset Devices. Am J Otolaryngol 1985;6:111-4.\r\n8.\tMazlan R, Saim L, Thomas A, Said R, Liyab B. Ear Infection and Hearing Loss amongst Headphone Users. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences 2002;9:17-22.\r\n9.\tBrook I. Bacterial Flora of Stethoscopes' Earpieces and Otitis Externa. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1997;106:751-2.\r\n10.\tKoneman EW, Allen SD, Janda WM, Schreckenberger PC, Winn WC. Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology. 5th ed. Lippincott, NY; 1997" relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 20 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2008-09-19 13:59:43 subjects: - OJHAS succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: A Comparative Analysis of Bacterial Growth with Earphone Use type: journale userid: 4338 volume: 7