A One-Dose Cure For Ear Infections

A single dose of a new bioengineered gel may deliver a full course of antibiotic therapy for middle ear infections, making treatment for this common childhood illness much easier and potentially safer. Middle-ear infection, or otitis media, is the number one reason for pediatric antibiotic prescriptions, but getting oral antibiotics into young children several times a day for seven to 10days is a daunting task. With oral antibiotics, you have to treat the entire body repeatedly just to get to the middle ear. With the gel, a pediatrician could administer the entire antibiotic course all at once, and only where it’s needed. Squirted into the ear canal, the gel quickly hardens and stays in place, gradually dispensing antibiotic across the eardrum into the middle ear.