title: Otitis media: an update on current pharmacotherapy and future perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most common childhood bacterial infection and also the leading cause of conductive hearing loss in children. Currently, there is an urgent need for developing novel therapeutic agents for treating AOM.
  
  
  METHODS
  Structured search of current literature. PubMed was searched for published literature in areas of pharmacotherapeutics, preventive therapies and complementary treatments for OM. The intent of this review is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of therapeutics for AOM, including preventive modalities and complementary medicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the management of AOM in young children is still evolving and depends on patterns of bacterial colonization and antimicrobial resistance in the community. The introduction of vaccinations against potential respiratory tract pathogens has altered the frequency of recovery of pathogens causing ear infections in children. Even though not all patients require antimicrobial therapy to overcome their infection, these agents improve symptoms faster and lead to fewer treatment failures. Further studies are warranted to evaluate which patients would best benefit from antimicrobial therapy.
authors.affiliation: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Pediatrics , Bethesda, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Brook
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D004433:Earache / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Haemophilus influenzae; Streptococcus pneumonia; amoxicillin; otitis media