Ear Infection in Younger Kids is Best Treated with Long Term Antibiotics, Study

Ear infection in kids younger than the age of two years is common and the most effective way to treat this infection is treatment with antibiotics for a longer term. A new study reveals the new findings.

He researchers looked into shorter antibiotic treatment for the ear infections and longer treatments as well. They discovered that shorter treatment did not reduce side effects or antibiotic resistance. Above all it was ineffective, too.

The new study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The physicians and researchers are trying to find ways to control antibiotic intake for cure of infections. Antibiotics against common infections should be used for short term.

The goal is to stop the bacteria from growing resistant to the antibiotic. But this shorter antibiotic course is studied in other contexts than ear infection, writes WIVK.org.

The study was done on 250 children aged 6 months to 2 years with acute middle-ear infection.   Half of the kids were put on an antibiotic amoxicillin-clavulanate treatment plan for 10 days while the other half tiok same antibiotic for 5 days.

The entire kids remained under focused and regular checkup of their ears and throat and at the end of treatment plan the researchers found out that kids who took antibiotics for 5 days had 34% treatment failure as compared to 16% in kids who were given antibiotics for 10 days.

The first group suffered from worsened symptoms while both of the groups had the same rate of colonization with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The author of the study Dr. Alejandro Hoberman who is also the chief of the division of general academic pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said that they get surprising results.

The study revealed that the side effects of antibiotics are same whether used for long-term or short-term, although it was known previously that shorter period use causes lesser side effects reports Kids.org.

To shorten the use of antibiotics needs clinical trials of different antibiotics for different sorts of infections in patients of multiple age levels, says Dr. Helen Boucher, who is an infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center and a member of the board of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

In some common infections the use of antibiotics can be for short-term while in some other infections it is eminent to take antibiotics for a long-term.

Proper use of antibiotics can be lifesaving according to Dr. Pranita Tamma, a pediatrician and director of the pediatric antimicrobial stewardship program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.