Prevention of acute otitis media.
Breast-feeding, using family or small-group day care for infants and toddlers and avoiding exposure to household tobacco smoke are the main preventive measures against acute otitis media (AOM). It is also useful to immunize children who have recurrent otitis media with the influenza and the pneumococcal vaccines. Antibiotic prophylaxis is the most effective method to reduce the frequency of new episodes of otitis in children with recurrent AOM, but it should be used with caution. Tympanostomy tube placement and/or adenoidectomy can be considered as options in some situations. Now, probably, the best initial steps to take to prevent new episodes of otitis in children with recurrent AOM are antimicrobial treatment of each individual AOM episode and, in certain cases, antibiotic prophylaxis for short periods when an upper respiratory tract infection is present.
Rodrigo
Carlos
C
Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain.