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Close window Published online: 11 July 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060710-6 Bulky biofilms found in kids' earsDrug-resistant bugs argue against use of antibiotics.Helen Pearson Nasty bugs: ear infections may hold bugs in tough biofilms that are hard to treat.© Punchstock Bacteria clumped into tough biofilms are behind the widespread and persistent ear infections that vex kids, researchers have confirmed, supporting the idea that deploying antibiotics against these conditions is futile. The middle-ear inflammation called otitis media is the most common reason for children's doctor visits and antibiotic prescriptions in the United States alone. Some are acute infections that clear up rapidly...

WASHINGTON, June 20--Children with recurrent otitis media have a higher number of infectious pathogens in their nasopharynx and lower counts of beneficial flora. A Georgetown team, discovered this while seeking to show how smoking by parents affected children with otitis media. Surprisingly, the number of infectious pathogens found in the children of smoking parents and the children of non-smoking was essentially the same, Itzhak Brook, M.D., and Alan E. Gober, M.D., reported in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology. They collected swabs from 40 children with recurrent otitis media and also from their parents, half of whom smoked at...

ATLANTA, March 3 — Doctors and patients are beginning to curb their use of antibiotics as a result of educational programs, federal health officials said Wednesday. The inappropriate use of antibiotics has led illness-causing microbes to become resistant to such drugs. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health problem throughout the world and is particularly common among the bacteria that cause ear and respiratory infections. "We are making progress" against the problem in this country, said Dr. Richard E. Besser, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When we look at the prescribing data across the nation,...