Antibiotic choices for ear infection

Antibiotics that can be prescribed for ear infections

Antibiotics are frequently used for the treatment of earinfections, and the Food and Drug Administration approved a number of them forthis purpose. The greatest majority belongs to the family of penicillins,cephalosporins and erythromycins, although sulfonamides are also a family ofantibiotics that can be used in cases of ear infections.

Amoxicillin and Augmentin are some of the most frequent penicillinantibiotics, and while positive sides of amoxicillin are that it causes milderside effects than other penicillins, it is absorbed well and it does not costmuch, the positive side of Augmentin is that it is effective when all othermedications fail to clear up the infection.Ceclor is an expensive form of cephalosporin antibiotic,which also tends to cause side effects frequently, as well as allergicreactions in children who do not tolerate penicillin. Vantin, Lorabid andsuprax are also some of the forms of this type of antibiotic.Pediazole is actually a combination of erythromycin andsufisoxazole, which is particularly useful in cases of children who areallergic to penicillin. Side effects do not occur frequently, and even if they do occur, they are mild.Most usually suggested antibiotics from the sulfonamidefamily are Bactrim and Gantrisin. While Bactrim is also suitable for childrenwho are allergic to penicillin, Gantrisin is usually used in a prevention of recurrentinfections in children.

Children and antibiotics

When it come to children who develop an ear infection, it is necessaryto be extra careful before prescribing antibiotics. The most common symptoms inchildren who have this infection are vomiting and high temperature, which iswhy it will do more good for them if the treatment begins with antibioticsright away. On the other side, those who do not have these symptoms are notvery likely to benefit from the treatment with antibiotics right away, which iswhy sometimes it might be better to wait a little, because in the majority ofcases, ear infections in children improve on their own, practically without theuse of antibiotics. If antibiotics are prescribed too soon, the child is morelikely to develop some serious disease, which is why it is better to prescribethem only when they are really needed. This means that symptoms such as feverover 102 Fahrenheit, dehydration, and pain that causes sickness need to bepresent, or the child should be younger than 2.