California declared a pertussis (whooping cough) epidemic this week. The California Department of Public Health reports 910 confirmed cases, including the death of five infants since the beginning of the year. The Department of Public Health is urging all families to vaccinate against this disease.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial respiratory tract infection. It begins looking like most other upper respiratory illnesses:
There may be nothing more than a runny nose and sneezing, often with little or no fever. The first coughs can look like a common cold. After 1-2 weeks, this may progress to a stage characterized by bursts of numerous rapid coughs (paroxysms, a “machine gun” cough) followed by a loud “whooping” inhalation, which gives Bordetella Pertussis the alternative name of “whooping cough.” That “whoop,” however is not an invariable part of the illness. A final recovery stage with coughing may last weeks or months. It’s a nasty illness which the Chinese call the “100 day cough” and their number is not far off. In most cases, whooping cough is a truly miserable cough that can ruin a family’s summer plans and mean a lot of missed days of work and school. In very rare cases, it can lead to much more serious conditions. The risk is highest for infants in the first six weeks of life who can get very sick and even die from it.
At the present time, I’m aware of two families in my practice who I believe have pertussis. I have no laboratory confirmation and in neither case has anyone in the family required hospital care.
The media and many official medical organizations get the discussion of “epidemics” wrong as often as they get it right and when they finally have something to talk about in the press it’s hard to sort out the truth. Before you read any further, have a look at this New York Times article about the whooping cough “epidemic that wasn’t.”
This time, unlike the H1N1 “pandemic” scare, the avian flu hype, the measles epidemic of 132 cases, the Jewish mumps scare and the West Nile Virus fear posters at every trail head, the pertussis outbreak information might be real and might be a reason to consider getting your child vaccinated. Whooping cough is not easy to diagnose with lab tests and doctors and parents often must rely on their clinical impression the cough and the pattern of disease spread. According to the official website of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, an article reviewed by Dr, Paul Offit estimates that there are between “600,000 to 900,000″ cases of pertussis each year in adults and adolescents alone. This stands at odds with official data from the CDC which puts that number at 5000-10,000. This type of disparity makes the discussion of pertussis outbreaks and vaccination just a little more difficult.
I think the DTaP vaccine is the shot with the best risk/benefit ratio and it’s the vaccine I use the most often in my office week. The official schedule includes far too many shots for six-week-old babies. A lot of harm and confusion could be alleviated by vaccinating later and not giving five or six vaccines at the same time.
This “acellular” vaccine does not contain mercury (almost no vaccines still do) and has been in use for nearly fifteen years in the United States and for quite a few years before that in other countries.
DTaP vaccine prevents whooping cough and may even prevent illness or lessen the severity of illness after the first vaccine. The routine schedule includes three doses in the first six months of life, a fourth at eighteen months of age, a fifth at age five years and booster doses of a new adolescent/adult vaccine. I don’t think your babies under a year of age should be given any vaccines, including this one. The CDC and most doctors, including my colleagues in this office, disagree.
Erythromycin, Zithromax and similar antibiotics can shorten the contagious phase of pertussis and can stop the spread of the illness in a family or a school. Our office has DTaP vaccine for infants and young children and another for older children, adolescents and adults. I do not recommend this vaccine for infants unless there are unusual risk factors in a baby’s life. Again, the vast majority of experts disagree, and I understand the need for public health considerations and preservation of herd immunity but still would rather vaccinate only after 12-24 months of age and feel comfortable, in most cases, giving no vaccine at all.
Ultimately this is a parents’ decision. Do not expect the media to let up on this issue in the near future.
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Tylenol Recall Update
Since the April recall, Children’s Tylenol, Benadryl, Motrin and other McNeil Pharmaceutical products are still unavailable for purchase. The latest report says we should not expect a return of these products until 2011. You can receive updates from the makers of Tylenol on their website. In the meantime, I recommend generic brands of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for allergies and generic acetaminophen and ibuprofen for fever control when you need it.
Here is a resource to help you determine the proper amount of acetaminophen to give your child.
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Some of you have expressed interest in Senator Barbara Boxer and my support for her advocacy for children. My wife and I are co-hosting an afternoon with Senator Boxer at a private home in Santa Monica this Sunday, June 27th and also will be co-hosting an event with Senator Boxer and Vice President Biden in July. If you are interested in either of these fund raising events, please email Sheila Creal at SHEILATCREAL@AOL.COM
Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP
I spent Saturday at an incredible conference in Chicago. Any thoughts I ever had about wavering in my support of Andrew Wakefield have dissolved.
Jay
Last night, PBS aired a show called “The Vaccine War.” I was interviewed at great length and in great depth about vaccines and my point of view and expressed my ambivalence about the polarization of this issue and the need for more calm reasoned discussion about the number one question that new parents have. I told Kate McMahon, the co-producer of the show, that there was a large group of doctors and others who cannot be dismissed with the facile label “anti-vaccine” because we still give vaccines and see a place for them in the practice of medicine, but we do not agree with the current vaccine schedule nor the number of vaccines children receive all at one time.
A few days ago, Ms.McMahon emailed me to tell me that the decision had been made to omit my interview from the show. There would not be one word from me. She didn’t tell me that she had also omitted 100% of Dr. Robert Sears’ interview. And that any other comments from physicians supporting the parents on the show in their ambivalence about vaccines or their decision to refuse all vaccines would also be omitted.
She left this as a show with many doctors commenting very negatively, very frighteningly and often disdainfully and dismissively about vaccine “hesitation” as they called it.
Below is my email response to Kate McMahon.
Dear Kate,
The “Frontline” show was disgraceful. You didn’t even have the courtesy to put my interview or any part of the two hours we spent taping on your web site.
You created a pseudo-documentary with a preconceived set of conclusions: “Irresponsible moms against science” was an easy takeaway from the show.
Did you happen to notice that Vanessa, the child critically ill with pertussis, was not intubated nor on a respirator in the ER? She had nasal “prongs” delivering oxygen. I’m sorry for her parents’ anxiety and very happy that she was cured of pertussis. But to use anecdotal reports like this as science is irresponsible and merely served the needs of the doctor you wanted to feature.
No one pursued Dr. Offit’s response about becoming rich from the vaccine he invented. He was allowed to slide right by that question without any follow up. Dr. Paul Offit did not go into vaccine research to get rich. He is a scientist motivated by his desire to help children. But his profiting tens of millions of dollars from the creation of this vaccine and the pursuit of sales of this and other vaccines is definitely not what he says it is. His many millions “don’t matter” he says. And you let it go.
Jenny McCarthy resumed being a “former Playboy” person and was not acknowledged as a successful author, actress and mother exploring every possible avenue to treating her own son and the children of tens of thousands of other families.
I trusted you by giving you two or three hours of my time for an interview and multiple background discussions. I expressed my heartfelt reservations about both vaccines and the polarizing of this issue into “pro-vaccine” and “anti-vaccine” camps. I told you that there was at least a third “camp.” There are many doctors and even more parents who would like a more judicious approach to immunization. Give vaccines later, slower and with an individualized approach as we do in every other area of medicine.
What did you create instead?
“The Vaccine War.”
A war. Not a discussion or a disagreement over facts and opinions, but a war. This show was unintelligent, dangerous and completely lacking in the balance that you promised me–and your viewers–when you produced and advertised this piece of biased unscientific journalism. “Tabloid journalism” I believe is the epithet often used. Even a good tabloid journalist could see through the screed you’ve presented.
You interviewed me, you spent hours with Dr. Robert Sears of the deservedly-illustrious Sears family and you spoke to other doctors who support parents in their desire to find out what went wrong and why it’s going wrong and what we might do to prevent this true epidemic.
Not a measles epidemic, not whooping cough. Autism. An epidemic caused by environmental triggers acting on genetic predisposition. The science is there and the evidence of harm is there. Proof will come over the next decade. The National Children’s Study will, perhaps by accident, become a prospective look at many children with and without vaccines. But we don’t have time to wait for the results of this twenty-one year research study: We know that certain pesticides cause cancer and we know that flame retardants in children’s pajamas are dangerous. We are cleaning up our air and water slowly and parents know which paint to buy and which to leave on the shelves when they paint their babies’ bedrooms.
The information parents and doctors don’t have is contained in the huge question mark about the number of vaccines, the way we vaccinate and the dramatic increase in autism, ADD/ADHD, childhood depression and more. We pretend to have proof of harm or proof of no harm when what we really have is a large series of very important unanswered questions.
In case you were wondering, as I practice pediatrics every day of my career, I base nothing I do on Dr. Wakefield’s research or on Jenny McCarthy’s opinions. I respect what they both have done and respectfully disagree with them at times. I don’t think that Dr. Wakefield’s study proved anything except that we need to look harder at his hypothesis. I don’t think that Jenny McCarthy has all the answers to treating or preventing autism, but there are tens of thousands of parents who have long needed her strong high-profile voice to draw attention to their families’ needs: Most families with autism get inadequate reimbursement for their huge annual expenses and very little respect from the insurance industry, the government or the medical community. Jenny has demanded that a brighter light be shone on their circumstances, their frustration and their needs.
I base everything I do on my reading of CDC and World Health Organization statistics about disease incidence in the United States and elsewhere. I base everything I do on having spent the past thirty years in pediatric practice watching tens of thousands of children get vaccines, not get vaccines and the differences I see.
Vaccines change children.
Most experts would argue that the changes are unequivocally good. My experience and three decades of observation and study tell me otherwise. Vaccines are neither all good–as this biased, miserable PBS treacle would have you believe–nor all bad as the strident anti-vaccine camp argues.
You say the decisions to edit 100% of my interview from your show (and omit my comments from your website) “were purely based on what’s best for the show, not personal or political, and the others who didn’t make it came from both sides of the vaccine debate.” You are not telling the truth. You had a point to prove and removed material from your show which made the narrative balanced. “Distraught, confused moms against important, well-spoken calm doctors” was your narrative with a deep sure voice to, literally, narrate the entire artifice.
You should be ashamed of yourself, Kate. You knew what you put on the air was slanted and you cheated the viewers out of an opportunity for education and information. You cheated me out of hours of time, betrayed my trust and then you wasted an hour of PBS airtime. Shame on you.
The way vaccines are manufactured and administered right now in 2010 makes vaccines and their ingredients part of the group of toxins which have led to a huge increase in childhood diseases including autism. Your show made parents’ decisions harder and did nothing except regurgitate old news.
Parents and children deserve far better from PBS.
Dr. Jay discusses the Healthy School Lunch Program 2010 on ABC’s Good Morning America Health.
I have seen more children and adults with influenza-like illness: 104 degree fevers, muscle soreness, sore throat and negative tests for strep, than in any summer I can remember. I haven’t used the “flu swab” to test anybody, but I’m sure that many if not most of these sick people had Swine Flu. They all felt miserable, and they are all feeling just fine now.
Preventing outbreaks of this “novel H1N1″ influenza may be a mistake of huge proportions. Yes, sadly, there will be fatalities among the 6 billion citizens of the planet. Tens of millions of cases of any illness will lead to morbidity and mortality, but this is completely (tragically) unavoidable. The consequences of not acquiring immunity this time around, however, could be really terrible and far outweigh a mass prevention program.
Here’s my rationale for not using Tamiflu: If (if, if, if) this virus circles the globe as the rather innocent influenza it now appears to be, but mutates and returns as a very virulent form of influenza, it will be quite wonderful and life-saving to have formed antibodies against its 2009 version. These antibodies may be far from 100% protective, but they will help. This is incredibly important but being ignored in the interest of expediency.
In 1918, it appears that influenza A (an H1N1, by the way) did this globe-trotting mutation and killed millions. The times and state of medical care are not comparable, but a milder parallel occurrence is possible. Perhaps this happens every 100 years or so, perhaps every three million.
Whenever possible, we should form antibodies against viruses at the right stage of their existence and at the right stage of our lives (For example, chickenpox in childhood and EBV/mono in early childhood. There are many other examples.) Getting many viral illnesses confers lifetime immunity, and very few vaccines do.
Tamiflu is a very powerful drug with little proven efficacy against this bug, and with its major side effect being tummy upset. I’m not using it at all. Psychiatric side effects are also possible.
I also won’t be giving the flu shot to the kids and parents in my practice unless there are extraordinary risk factors. I anticipate giving none at all this year. I doubt that there will be any really large problems with the vaccine, but I also doubt any really large benefits. As I said, I think that this year’s version of this particular H1N1 is as “mild” as it will ever be and that getting sick with it this year will be good rather than bad. The chances that a new “flu shot” will be overwhelmingly effective are small.
I consider this, and most seasonal and novel influenza A vaccines, as “experimental” vaccines; they’ve only been tested on thousands of people for a period of weeks and then they’ll be given to hundreds of millions of people. Not really the greatest science when we’re in that much of a hurry. Yes, one can measure antibodies against a certain bacterium or virus in the blood and it may be associated with someone not getting sick, but there are very few illnesses common enough or enough ethics committees willing enough to do the right tests. That is, give 1000 people the real vaccine and 1000 placebo shots, expose all of them to the disease and see who gets sick. Seriously. I know it sounds terrible.
This is, obviously, a difficult public discussion because it touches on the concept of benefits and risks, again, of morbidity and mortality. Few public officials have the courage or inclination to present all facets of this difficult decision. I give vaccines to my patients every single day, but I always err on the side of caution. Implying that this is a dangerous new shot is not scientifically or statistically correct and represents hyperbole and even dishonesty on the part of the so-called “anti-vaccine” camp.
It sure isn’t “sexy” to suggest handwashing, good nutrition, hydration, extra sleep and so on. It’s not conventional to suggest astragalus, echinacea, elderberry and vitamin C. Adequate vitamin D levels are crucial, too.
I just think that giving this new H1N1 vaccine is not the cautious nor best thing to do.
Best,
Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP
Well, that wasn’t April’s only storm. An April Fool’s joke I posted to a private group of a few thousand doctors, lactation experts and other medical experts triggered alarm in the halls of my club, The American Academy of Pediatrics.
Interestingly, the AAP may actually have dramatically increased integrity under Dr. David Tayloe, our new president, but someone else violated the first rule of publicity: Don’t complain when some one makes you look a lot better than you really are. Even if he does it on April First!!
Dr. Susan E.Burger is one of the world’s foremost experts on international nutrition and epidemiology who shared with me her submission to the New York Times. The Times did not publish this excellent article and I asked her permission to post it here. Thank you very much, Dr. Burger
Why do you advocate staggering vaccines?
I think the immune system, like every other system of the body, matures slowly, and that it can better tolerate viral infection at older ages and better tolerate one virus at a time. The other thing is that vaccines all contain other ingredients. They contain aluminum, they contain tiny bits of formalin [an aqueous solution of formaldahyde]. So I recommend waiting as long as parents are comfortable, and vaccinating very, very slowly. I also ask parents to wait at least six months before the first vaccine. I prefer to wait a year. I have patients who choose to get no vaccines at all, and I support that. I have patients who choose to get almost no vaccines at all, and I support that. I have patients who choose every vaccine except this one or that one; I support that.
By ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session — only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly “embargoed.” There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.
The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency’s massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines — thimerosal — appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. “I was actually stunned by what I saw,” Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants — in one case, within hours of birth — the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
By Katie Allison Granju
November 3rd, 2003 was a big day for Alabama emergency room pediatrician, Dr. Carden Johnston. On that date last month, he was installed as the new President of the 66,000 member American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the prestigious organization’s annual meeting in New Orleans. It was also the date that he sparked what has emerged as a major ethical controversy by inadvertently pulling back the curtains on the powerful influence that a particular corporate interest appears to have in shaping AAP policy and action.
“I have to admit that I never imagined that my presidency would start off with such a bang,” Dr. Johnston says, acknowledging the debate now taking place within his organization.
By Dee Negron
The allergen in poison ivy is a substance called urushiol. What urushiol does, to people who are allergic to it, is bind with the skin cells and produce a rash. In order to treat a reaction to the poison ivy what you essentially need to do is “neutralize” the urushiol.
There are several herbs, when applied topically, that can do this. Jewelweed is one of the best. You can also combine this with any herb that contains a significant amount of saponins such as Soapwort, Horse Chestnut, Licorice, or Rose Leaves. Please remember that these are for topical use only as saponins shouldn’t be taken internally while pregnant or nursing, but are perfectly safe when used externally. Some things to help control the itching are aloe vera or plantain. Also, cool baths with powdered colloidal oatmeal can be extremely soothing.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD) affects millions of children and their families. Currently accepted statistics say that as many as 10% of the school-aged population have ADHD and perhaps another 20% have symptoms of the disorder suggestive of ADHD. Boys are diagnosed three times more often than girls and 30-50% of these children will continue to manifest these symptoms and problems in adulthood.
It’s no wonder that the pharmaceutical industry has made a huge effort to market drugs for ADHD and that a large and intelligent backlash has developed against the widespread use of these powerful chemicals.
I have been a pediatrician for twenty years and for fifteen of those years I completely disdained the use of Ritalin and the other psychopharmaceuticals for ADHD kids. I was probably wrong to “throw out the baby with the bath water.” Denying that a small percentage of children receiving Ritalin actually benefited from the drug was not fair to them. We don’t know enough about brain chemistry to completely understand ADHD, but we do know the impact of untreated ADHD on children: a much more difficult childhood and adolescence with school and social problems which can be nonstop.
I now try “everything else” before resorting to prescription medication, but I no longer rule out that possibility.
Deficiency in central nervous system dopamine probably causes many, if not most, of the problems associated with ADHD. Nutritional problems can cause or exacerbate this deficiency: supplemental tyrosine, B vitamins, vitamin C and copper have all shown a positive influence on improving the school performance of children with ADHD. These can all be combined with conventional therapy with no adverse interactions. Ritalin and similar drugs act by directly increasing brain dopamine levels.
Before I consider anything else, I try to persuade the family to put their child and themselves on an excellent diet. The standard American diet filled with sugar, artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives, saturated fats, low levels of vitamins and minerals, and too much protein is not good for brain health or health in general. Mainstream medical journals have debated this topic for decades and most medical practitioners don’t like to consider nutritional alternatives in the treatment of any disease because it takes too long to discuss it with their patients.
I recommend whole foods as the backbone of the nutritional regimen. As obvious as this sounds, most children get the bulk of their food in an over-processed form. Whole grain cereals and breads and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and beans and pasta make for meals which interest children and adults. Counsel your patients to avoid sugar!! Reading labels closely will show parents just how many artificial additives have worked their way into kids’ daily diets. Many chemicals mimic brain neurotransmitters and even conventionally published research admits that sugar has a negative impact on the behavior of ADHD children. Processed cereals and high-fructose corn syrup sweetened drinks add huge amounts of sugar to a child’s day. Even regular unsweetened apple juice in the quantities some children like can be a large source of extra sugar.
There are many alternative remedies which can be used to treat children with ADHD and learning disorders. We must help the families in our practices find these and guide them in their usage.
Ginkgo Biloba dilates blood vessels and improves circulation to the brain. Researchers have shown it’s utility in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Variations are to be expected, and are in no way to be considered a defect.
– Hang tag from Madras shirt
Statistics reflect this confusion. Depending on who you read, some experts say we have about eight hundred-thousand learning disabled children in the country. Others put the figure as high as eight million.
In 1963, when “learning disabilities” were first described, we found very few students with the problem and thought the problem was rare.
Some take a very conservative view and say that 30 – 50% of us will outgrow it, but a growing body of experts think we just learn to cope with it. There’s a certain brain development that takes place at puberty that sometimes makes ADD much easier to live with. I think the jury’s still out but my guess that most of learn to live with it, not outgrow it.
There are herbs that may drastically alter your feeling of well-being. These may be something you’d like to consider before resorting to medications.
For anxiety, a mix of Kava and Siberian Ginseng is good.
For depression, Gingko Biloba or Borage. There has been a good amount of success with a combination of the two as well.
Keep in mind when combining herbs to treat one symptom or illness to use a proportional dosage. (i.e., two herbs would be half dosage of each, three herbs would be one-third dosage, etc.)
Here is a link that goes into homeopathic remedies for depression. The info given is on postpartum depression simply because all of these are safe while nursing. They are all used to treat general depression as well, so they’re not specific for use for PPD.
Homeopathic Remedies for Postpartum Depression – MotherNature.com Health Encyclopedia
The usual speech applies here. When looking into using herbal or homeopathic remedies, make sure you’re getting them from a good health food store. Avoid commercial places like GNC. Get out the yellow pages and look under health food stores, then call around until you find one with a certified herbalist on staff. This is the store you want to go to.
Exercise should not be forgotten when dealing with depression. It has been shown that regular exercise is the best remedy for depression. There have been patients who’ve suffered repeated bouts of depression who have been able to go off meds completely after starting and maintaining a regular exercise program.
For painful joint problems, a combination of glucosamine and chondroitin has shown positive results in many.
The dosage for regenerating cartilage is 1500 mg of glucosamine a day and 1200 mg of chondroitin a day. Take this dosage until you start feeling a relief from the pain. Then drop down to 1000mg of glucosamine and 800 mg of chondroitin until pain disappears. From that point on, take a daily dose of 500 mg glucosamine and 400 mg chondroitin daily to prevent future degeneration.
Patients using glucosamine for osteoarthritis should take 1500 mg per day. It can take up to 4 – 8 weeks to relieve pain. Therefore, continuing on a NSAID during this time period may be necessary.
Patients with type II diabetes should monitor their blood sugar carefully due to concerns that glucosamine might increase insulin resistance.
In considering which supplements will assist you best with joint pain, it may be helpful to know that the absorption rate for chondroitin is 0 to 8% while the glucosamine sulfate is 98%. Glucosamine sulfate is the best source. It is possible to get the relief you are looking are with glucosamine alone.
By Dee Negron
Here are some natural treatments for colds that can be used in children and are also safe while nursing. When using herbs with children you can usually find a product made specifically for infants and children. If you can’t here’s how to determine the dosage. You take the child’s weight and divide it by 150. The resulting fraction is the portion of the adult dose to administer.
The first thing you’ll want to do is boost your body’s immune system. Echinacea, 2 capsules 3 times per day, and Colloidal Silver are great immune system boosters. You may also want to boost your intake of vitamin C, up to 500mg 4 times per day, and eat foods with plenty of fresh garlic.
Anise and Mullein, in tea form and taken as needed, are both natural expectorants. Elderberry, 10ml 2 times per day, is the best antiviral product on the market, natural or otherwise. It is most effective in fighting the flu virus, but is also very effective against cold viruses.
Aromatherapy can be a great tool as well. Lavender and Clary Sage in your bath are what you’ll want to use. Lavender works to relax muscles and can help soothe coughs and Clary Sage helps alleviate the grumpiness that tends to accompany colds. What you’ll need to look for is an essential oil. It is the oils of these plants that work, so something that merely contains a fragrance is going to be useless. Then what you do is take some unscented liquid soap and add five drops Clary Sage oil and ten drops Lavender oil and use your finger to mix the oil with the soap. This emulsifies the oils so that they mix with your bath water.
Ear infections can be viral or bacterial. It seems logical to assume that the majority of them–like all kids’ infections–are viral and therefore completely non-responsive to antibiotics. The medical literature is just loaded with controversy about ear infections and that controversy includes the basic idea that ear infections may not need antibiotics at all!
I think that many infections, including otitis media (middle ear infections) respond faster or better to antibiotic treatment but I also think that the negative impact of those medicines is underestimated by doctors and patients alike. Everything from yeast overgrowth in the intestines, oral thrush, vaginal or diaper area yeast infections to diarrhea result from antibiotics. Additionally, some people have allergic reactions to these medicines. Perhaps the most underestimated problem is the breeding of bacteria which are resistant to the very drugs we count on to kill them.
