Antibiotics for acute otitis media in infancy: Based on fear or on facts?

Acute otitis media is treated in the majority of cases with antibiotics. The evidence that antibiotics are of little value for this common childhood illness is increasing. Even for infants with acute otitis media, the efficacy of these drugs seems to be limited. And since antibiotics are certainly not harmless, their use should be questioned. This paper points out that watchful waiting is a safe policy for acute otitis media for most infants.