Acute Suppurative Otitis Media in Children Treated with Dipenicillin, Sodium Penicillin Penicillin Orally, Terramycin Intramuscularly Or Aureomycin

Abstract

The extensive use of antibiotics in the treatment of otitis media during recent years has made it desirable to find out the antibiotic possessing the greatest efficacy and at the same time the lowest toxicity. The efficacy can best be evaluated on the basis of the period of time from the start of the treatment until discharge from the ear has ceased. Moreover, the numbers of relapse, as well as possible otogenic complications, will have to be taken into consideration. In selecting the antibiotic, great importance must be attached to the possible toxicity of the drug. As experience up to now has shown that penicillin is only slightly toxic and at the same time efficacious (Riskaer, Nielsen) we chose to start our studies with Dipenicillin as the standard treatment. Where this antibiotic failed to cure the otitis, where the patient had been treated with penicillin over a lengthy period of time with no effect before admission to the hospital, or where the patient was hypersensitive to penicillin, treatment with Aureomycin orally was decided on. This turned out to be very efficacious; still, we were aware that some form or other of penicillin was preferable for the primary treatment.