- Home
- » e-Newsletters
Health officials discourage use of antibiotics for most child ear infections
Infection Control Monitor, March 4, 2004
Two leading medical groups plan to recommend this spring that physicians stop treating most ear infections in children with antibiotics, the Associated Press reports.
The guidance runs contrary to past pediatric practice, since about half of all antibiotics prescribed to preschool children are for treating ear infections. Health officials believe if they can reduce child antibiotic use for such infections, they can stop the rise of antibiotic-resistant germs created by overuse of the drugs.
The guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians must be formally approved by the medical bodies before they are published for physicians.
About 80% of children with ear infections typically recover in two to seven days, said <b>Richard Besser, MD,</b> acting chief of the meningitis and special pathogens branch of the CDC.
In the current proposal, physicians would prescribe antibiotics only for children with serious middle ear infections, known as acute otitis media. Symptoms include a minimum fever of 102.6 degrees or severe ear pain. Milder cases would simply be observed.
Between 5 million and 6 million children under the age of 5 suffer ear infections each year, and about 10 million prescriptions each year are written for ear infections for children of all ages.
Go to http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/healthcare for more information on antimicrobial resistance.
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- ED-to-inpatient transfers are flawed with safety gaps
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched