An ear infection is a very common problem among children. Antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed medications for treating ear infections, but antibiotics often do not improve a child’s condition. In fact, there have been reports saying that overuse of antibiotics may cause side effects and increase the risk of antibiotic resistance in some bacteria.
In this article, we’ll be discussing whether you should use antibiotics for ear infection or not if your child has an ear infection.
Can Antibiotics Treat Ear Infection?
The primary way to treat infections is by removing the pus from the middle ear through either irrigation or tube insertion. However, doctors usually prescribe antibiotics because they are afraid of missing meningitis or mastoiditis, dangerous forms of ear infection.
There are several antibiotics that doctors may prescribe when treating ear infections, such as amoxicillin, cefdinir, cefuroxime axetil, and many more.
When To Use Antibiotics
Ear infection in children is most often caused by a virus and does not require antibiotics. However, there are cases in which they do:
• If the symptoms of the infection worsen after three days
• If there is severe pain or fever that lasts for five days or longer
In this case, it’s safe to say that your doctor will prescribe you some type of antibiotic medicine if the above conditions apply to your child. In this case, using antibiotics would be appropriate.
When Not To Use Antibiotics?
• Infection in an ear is most often caused by viruses, not bacteria.
• Antibiotics are ineffective against viruses. That’s why infection does not require the use of antibiotics most of the time.
• If your child’s symptoms improve after three days, don’t worry too much about the ear infection. It will probably just go away on its own without requiring any kind of treatment or medication
If your child has any one of these conditions, you do not have to worry or panic because this means that using antibiotics is unnecessary in your case. Just keep taking care of your child and wait for the infection to go away all by itself without having to use any kind of medication to treat it.
The best course of action if your child has an ear infection is just to wait for it to resolve by itself and not use antibiotics (unless your doctor says so). If the condition persists, however, make sure to contact your doctor right away as there could be complications such as meningitis or mastoiditis.
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