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Updated: Aug 4, 2026
Use of the EpiAirway Model for Characterizing Long-term Host-pathogen Interactions
Published on: September 2, 2011
Does earwax lose its pathogens on your auriscope overnight?
A Overend1, W W Hall, P G Godwin
1Airedale General Hospital, Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Objectives:
To describe the organisms cultured from general practitioners' auriscope earpieces; and to explore general practitioners' perceptions of the possibility of cross infection from contaminated auriscope earpieces and of how their auriscope earpieces are cleaned.
Design:
Microbiological survey of auriscope earpieces in two general practices and a semistructured questionnaire sent to 105 general practitioners.
Setting:
General practitioners served by one district general hospital microbiology laboratory in the north of England.
Results:
Organisms were cultured from 41 (93%) of 44 auriscope earpieces, of which 14 (32%) carried potential pathogens; four (9%) were heavily contaminated. Of the 85 (81%) general practitioners who responded, 72 (85%) believed that contaminated auriscope earpieces could cause serious infection, 66 (78%) did not clean earpieces between patients, and 70 (82%) thought that patients would mind if they knew that dirty earpieces were used.
Conclusions:
Almost a third of auriscope earpieces were contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. Although general practitioners suspected this, most did not ensure that a clean earpiece was used for each patient.
