Oct 22 2007
Childhood ear infections: Will earaches affect my child’s hearing?
by Dr. Michael Hawke, MD
(NC)-More than 70 per cent of all children may suffer a middle ear infection before the age of three and almost 20 per cent will experience at least three infections before the age of six. Chronic ear infections are disturbing and painful to your child, who may experience ear pain, lack of appetite and fever, among other symptoms. Also, as a parent it is not easy to watch your child suffer from a persistent infection.
Caused by the presence of fluid or pus in the middle ear, the condition can be chronic in some children. If your child has fluid in their ear they may experience temporary hearing loss which can lead to speech problems, changes to the eardrum and sometimes, permanent hearing damage. At this point your doctor may suggest an extremely common procedure for placing tubes in the eardrum to provide a temporary, “extra” tube to allow fluid to drain away from the middle ear.
To avoid any further infections once the tubes are in place, it is recommended that your child avoid getting water in their ears while swimming or bathing. Talk to your child’s doctor to determine the best way to treat and manage your child’s middle ear infections with tubes. The recommended treatment for any further bacterial infection is a class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones in ear drop format. These ear drops are easy to use, quick to treat the infection and combined with an agent that reduces swelling, meaning the antibiotic can get to the source of the infection.
Dr. Michael Hawke is an ear, nose and throat specialist who practices in Toronto. He is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. An international authority on ear disease, Dr. Hawke has published 12 textbooks on diseases of the ears, nose and throat; several of which have been translated into other languages.
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I am both shocked and dismayed to find this doctor even suggesting the use of the fluoroquinolones in the pediatric population. The fluoroquinolones are to be considered a drug of last resort when all else fails and certainly not a first line agent for any disease state.
The list of adverse reactions to this class includes spontaneous tendon ruptures, irrreversible peripheral nueropathy, toxic psychosis, liver failure, TENS, SJS, hypo and hyperglycemia, the list of SERIOUS side effects is endless.
Even more disturbing is the fact that the overwhelming majority of the treating physicians have no clue how dangerous these reactions can be and fail to associate such reactions with fluoroquinolone therapy.
More than half of the drugs found in this class have been removed from clinical practice due to such severe toxicity. Two petitions with the FDA seeking black box warnings as well as dear doctor letters are now pending with the FDA, one such petition filed by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois.
It is insane to risk crippling an innocent child for life by treating a common ear infection with this class, especially when on considers that such infections, for the most part, resolve without any antibiotic treatment to begin with. There are numerous other antibiotics that have a much safer profile than the fluoroquinolones that should be used if indeed such treatment is mandatory.
Mr. David T. Fuller
Director
Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Research Foundation
http://www.fqresearch.org
Thank you so much for this alternative, and alarming, counter to the article.