Otitis Media: What you should know.

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information bombarding parents regarding childhood ear infections and how they should be treated. This can be very confusing to parents and dangerous to the children they love. A Google search on the subject does little to clarify the matter. In my research I found articles supporting both sides of the debate with research to back each side.
ScienceDaily (Nov 7, 2006) cited one research study that tried to identify the pathogen responsible for Acute Otitis Media (AOM). Researchers found that out of 79 children, 92% had bacterial infections, 70% had viral infections, and 66% had both. This is very telling as to why there are conflicting views about AOM and how to treat it.  Let’s take a look at the most common treatment of AOM, antibiotics. Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria, which they do. There are a couple issues with using antibiotics though. The first is that bacteria replicate very quickly and are able to mutate and develop resistance to the antibiotics. The second issue is that antibiotics don’t discriminate between good and bad bacteria. The intestinal flora of the digestive track takes a beating when someone is placed on antibiotics. This can compromise the immune system further. This is one of the driving factors behind the debate on AOM.
So what is a parent to do when dealing with a child that is suffering from AOM? The first thing is to question whether the child is truly suffering or in any danger. There are many cases where the child is asymptomatic, but a pediatrician examines a child with a physical diagnosis of AOM and prescribes antibiotics. I would suggest in these cases the parents monitor the child but hold off on giving Otitis Media: What You Should Know the child the antibiotics. There is a very good chance that the child will never become symptomatic and the issue will resolve itself.
If the child is symptomatic, a conservative approach is still recommended. Giving antibiotics should not be taken lightly. Try to make the child comfortable and allow the immune system to do its job.  If you feel antibiotics are necessary, get the child on a good probiotic to help restore the flora of the GI Track.  And don’t forget, have your child adjusted so that their system is balanced and equipped to deal with the stress of an infection!