Activist and journalist Hanifa Adan recently made a plea to Kenyans to help her get urgent medical assistance, revealing that her hearing continues to deteriorate due to a severe ear condition.
The activist said she has been unsuccessfully looking for a good ENT facility to undergo surgery.
She noted that all facilities she has been to before only offered temporary solutions, and day by day pus oozes from the wounds inside.
Even though this is the first time the activist came out publicly about her hearing condition, she said she resorted to ask for assistance on the X platform as the users have been of help before.
The activist further revealed on Wednesday that she had gotten many recommendations and would be undergoing surgery to treat the severe infection.
“I have now learnt that what I have is chronic suppurative otitis media(CSOM). The surgery I am preparing for won’t restore my hearing, but it will treat the severe infection that’s been making me lose more hearing every day,” she said.
What is Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (CSOM)?
Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media, or CSOM, is a long-standing infection of the middle ear.
It is usually linked to a persistent perforation (hole) in the eardrum and ongoing or repeated discharge from the ear.
The condition has two distinct types, which include the benign or tubotympanic type, primarily affecting the inferior anterior region of the middle ear cleft, and results in permanent central perforation.
CSOM often begins as an untreated or poorly treated acute ear infection.
When bacteria and sometimes fungi remain in the middle ear space, they can cause ongoing inflammation.
This inflammation damages the eardrum and middle ear structures.
Over time, the infection may become persistent, leading to continuous or intermittent ear discharge lasting more than six weeks and, in some cases, for years, accompanied by hearing loss.
The condition, though common, can have serious health implications if left untreated.
The disease is more common in areas with poor access to medical care, overcrowded living conditions, and poor hygiene.
Untreated CSOM can spread beyond the ear, affecting the surrounding bones and even the brain.
CSOM symptoms include continuous or intermittent ear discharge, hearing loss, and sometimes pain or discomfort.
A common presenting symptom is hearing loss in the affected ear, however, reports of fever, vertigo, and pain should raise concern about intratemporal or intracranial complications.
In most cases, the discharge is painless but persistent, which may lead patients to ignore it.
In severe cases, the infection can spread to surrounding tissues, leading to more dangerous complications such as mastoiditis or even brain abscess.
Treatment often involves regular cleaning of the ear, antibiotic ear drops and in some cases, surgery to repair the eardrum and clear the infection.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CSOM is a major cause of acquired hearing impairment in children, especially in developing countries.
It has also been documented among elders more frequently.
"Most approaches to the treatment in such countries have been unsatisfactory or are very expensive and difficult," WHO says.
"If the child continues to have a discharging ear on day 5 of follow-up, the consequence is to encourage further wicking. This is unsatisfactory, as the child's caretaker sees no real option for treatment and may search for alternatives from other sources, spending money and losing trust in the health system."
Over 90 per cent of the burden is borne by countries in Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific regions, Africa, and several other ethnic
minorities in the Pacific rim.
WHO further confirmed that CSOM is not common in America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.
To help identify the disease at an early stage without unduly increasing the number of unnecessary referrals to specialists, WHO said the questions that health workers should ask and the procedures for visualizing the eardrum must be refined, standardized and validated.
Consequently, before the management of any patient with CSOM, one should take into account the fact that patients with intracranial or extracranial infections are more appropriately treated with surgery.
"Mastoidectomy with or without tympanoplasty eradicates mastoid infection in about 80 percent of patients and may be combined with surgical drainage of otogenic abscesses elsewhere," the body said.
However, they noted that such treatment is costly, does not always lead to satisfactory hearing improvement, and is inaccessible in many of the developing countries.
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