Most of the standard textbooks mention, the complications of Otitis Media as intra temporal and intracranial. But, there is a complication which is rare and not described in the textbooks. Otogenic tetanus, though thought to be very rare, is an entity which is neglected in a majority of academic literature in Otorhinolaryngology; it doesn’t figure in the discussion on general complications of Otitis Media as well. But a Google search in last year yielded 639 results in Google books, last year.
Sykes et al. reported the case of a 9-year-old boy with COM right ear since the age of four developing tetanus within 3 days after falling into a duck pond. The ear had been dry and started discharging again and Clostridium tetani were grown in culture from the ear discharge. They concluded that the contamination during submersion in the duck pond was the route of entry and short incubation…
