What every parent needs to know...

...no need for antibiotics in most middle ear infections

A report published in the British Medical Journal says most cases of middle ear infection in children can be managed with paracetamol or ibuprofen rather than antibiotics, according to draft NICE guidance.

Antibiotics make little difference to how long symptoms last, it says. There’s also evidence that antibiotics make little difference to the proportion of children with recurrent infections, hearing loss, or perforated ear drum, while acute complications, such as mastoiditis, are rare whether antibiotics are given or not.

But there is lots of evidence that adverse effects, particularly diarrhoea and nausea, occur in those who take antibiotics.