Acute otitis media: making sense of recent guidelines on antimicrobial treatment.

Abstract

High-dose amoxicillin (80 to 90 mg/kg/d divided twice daily) remains the drug of choice for treatment of acute otitis media despite increasing antimicrobial resistance. For persistent or recurrent acute otitis media, guidelines recommend high-dose amoxicillin/clavulanate (90/6.4 mg/kg/d), cefdinir, cefprozil, cefpodoxime, cefuroxime, or ceftriaxone. Increasing the dose of amoxicillin does not cover infection with beta-lactamase-producing pathogens; add the beta-lactamase inhibitor clavulanate to amoxicillin, or choose a cephalosporin with good activity against S pneumoniae and good beta-lactamase stability. Key factors for enhancing compliance are taste of suspension, dosing frequency, and duration of therapy.

• Authors: Michael E Pichichero, Janet R Casey
• Journal: The Journal of family practice (J Fam Pract) Vol. 54 Issue 4 Pg. 313-22 (Apr 2005) ISSN: 0094-3509 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15833221 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Amoxicillin

Topics

• Acute Disease
• Amoxicillin (administration & dosage)
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (administration & dosage)
• Bacterial Typing Techniques
• Diagnosis, Differential
• Drug Therapy, Combination (administration & dosage)
• Humans
• Otitis Media (diagnosis, drug therapy, microbiology)
• Practice Guidelines as Topic