Treating Acute Otitis Media

Abstract

Ideally, clinicians should treat bacterial otitis media with antibiotics and wait for viral otitis to subside. But in practice, the two cannot always be distinguished, and complications may develop in untreated cases. If cultures are inconclusive, ampicillin has proved an effective drug in children under six and potassium phenoxymethyl penicillin in older children. Therapy should last at least 10 days.