Symptoms & Signs
A chronic, long-term infection in the ear may have less severe symptoms than an acute infection. It may go unnoticed and untreated for a long time.
Symptoms include:
- Ear pain or discomfort, earache
- Usually mild
- May feel like pressure in the ear
- Fever
- Fussiness
- Pus-like drainage from the ear
- Hearing loss
Note: Symptoms may be continuous or come and go, and may occur in one or both ears.
Diagnosis & Tests
An examination of the ear may show:
- Dullness
- Redness
- Air bubbles
- Fluid behind the eardrum
- Draining fluid from the eardrum
- A hole (perforation) in the eardrum
- The eardrum bulges out or pulls back inward
Tests may include:
- Cultures of the fluid may show bacteria, and these bacteria may be resistant or harder to treat than the bacteria commonly involved in an acute ear infection.
- Skull x-rays or a CT scan of the head or mastoids may show that the infection has spread beyond the middle ear.
- Hearing tests may be needed.
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Ear infection – chronic : Overview, Causes, & Risk Factors
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Ear infection – chronic : Symptoms & Signs, Diagnosis & Tests
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Ear infection – chronic : Treatment
Review Date : 6/2/2009
Reviewed By : Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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