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Ear infection - acute

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Alternative Names:

Otitis media - acute; Infection - inner ear; Middle ear infection - acute

Prevention:

You can reduce your child's risk of ear infections with the following practices:

• Wash hands and toys frequently. Also, day care with 6 or fewer children can lessen your child's chances of getting a cold or similar infection. This leads to fewer ear infections.
• Avoid pacifiers, especially at daycare.
• Breastfeed -- this makes a child much less prone to ear infections. But, if bottle feeding, hold your infant in an upright, seated position.
• Don't expose your child to secondhand smoke.
• The pneumococcal vaccine prevents infections from the organism that most commonly causes acute ear infections and many respiratory infections.
• Some evidence suggests that xylitol, a natural sweetener, may reduce ear infections.
• Avoid overusing antibiotics.

References:

American Academy of Pediatrics Subcommittee on Management of Acute Otitis Media. Diagnosis and management of acute otitis media. Pediatrics . 2004 May;113(5):1451-65. Review.

Noble J. Textbook of Primary Care Medicine . 3rd ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2001.

Gershon, AA, Hotez, PJ, and Katz, SL, eds. Krugman’s Infectious Diseases of Children . 11th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2004.

Long, SS, Pickering, LK, and Prober, CG, eds. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone, 2003.

• Review Date: 10/9/2006
• Reviewed By: D. Scott Smith, M.D., MSc, DTM&H, Chief of Infectious Disease & Geographic Medicine, Kaiser Redwood City, CA & Adjunct Assistant Professor, Stanford University. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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