Acupuncture Today April, 2006, Vol. 07, Issue 04 Share |
Children's Ear Infections, Part One  By John Heuertz, DOM
Recurrent infections help make acute otitis media (AOM) the
number-one reason for visits to a family doctor or pediatrician
in this country.1 The routine treatment for AOM in the United
States is oral antibiotics.2 In some instances, chronic
infection is even treated prophylactically with antibiotics.3 In
fact, more oral antibiotics are administered to patients less
than 10 years old than to any other age group.4 In spite of
these facts, there is no clear evidence that antibiotics are
beneficial for routine treatment of AOM in either short- or
long-term outcomes.5 Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) uses
pattern identification as the basis for diagnosis.  Because a
pattern is determined by a semi-mutable set of signs and
symptoms occurring in concert, formulas are designed to address
a complex set of issues.  Otitis media can have multiple causes,
including bacterial infection, viral infection,