A new method of delivering antibiotics could cure more ear infections while reducing symptoms, with only a single treatment:
Ear infections in children are common, uncomfortable, and require strong doses of antibiotics. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital are designing an antibiotic gel that can be squirted directly into the ear canal to treat ear infections in just one treatment. [...] Although a course of antibiotics is usually effective, it is not an ideal solution for a number of reasons. For instance, coercing a child into taking medication several times a day for 7-10 days can be challenging. As the senior author of the study, Dr. Daniel Kohane, colorfully explains: "Force-feeding antibiotics to a toddler by mouth is like a full-contact martial art."
Often, because the symptoms of an ear infection disappear before the course of antibiotics is over, parents stop treatment early; this means that ear infections are more likely to recur - 40 percent of children have four or more episodes. Also, if a course of antibiotics is not taken in full, it encourages the development of drug-resistant infections, which is a growing concern for everyone. Another issue with the current solution for treating middle-ear infections is that, because antibiotics do not easily travel to the site of the infection, high doses are necessary. And high doses bring an increase in side effects, including diarrhea, oral thrush, and rashes.
[...] It may seem that squirting antibiotics into the ear canal might be an easier solution, but the eardrum, or tympanic membrane, is impenetrable. Dr. Kochane and his team have bioengineered a solution that could circumvent this anatomical gatekeeper. His team has developed an antibiotic gel that can chaperone drugs past the eardrum and directly into the middle ear; it manages this with the help of chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs). These CPEs insert themselves into a membrane, opening molecular pores and allowing the antibiotics through.
So far, it has been tested in chinchillas. Here's the abstract:
Treatment of otitis media by transtympanic delivery of antibiotics (DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf4363) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @04:54AM
Jack up the price! NOW! We can't have the children of poor people receiving convenient medical care. They all must SUFFER painfully!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 16 2016, @05:01AM
You got it... this will only be used for an elite's pet chinchilla.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @07:13AM
Obviously, they have never owned a cat. [nih.gov]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday September 16 2016, @09:23PM
I had to give an oral antibiotic to my cat a few weeks back. Long story short: I needed antibiotics after the first attempt resulted in lacerations to my chest, side and back. Told the cat it could go fuck itself, which it didn't seem to mind. A week later he was fine and my wounds were also almost healed up too.
If those idiots were smart, they'd infuse the medicine into treats which cats happily eat. They must get off watching pet owners suffer like that.
(Score: 1) by Guppy on Friday September 16 2016, @07:59AM
So far, it has been tested in chinchillas.
Always interesting to learn more about how we pick certain species to use when testing specific conditions (in this case, chinchillas being used as models for human ears). For instance, Ferrets are excellent models for influenza infection.
(Score: 2) by moondrake on Friday September 16 2016, @08:44AM
>Ear infections in children are common, uncomfortable, and require strong doses of antibiotics.
Most of the time the infections disappear on their own. Is it normal in some countries that you always get prescribed antibiotics for such things? We only get them if it does not go away after several days, or if there is a risk of eardrum damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @01:20PM
It's the USA. Yes, it's normal to get antibiotic for ear infections and the common cold here. It lets the doctor take the patient's money and the patient will shut up about getting their antibiotics. Especially for the common cold. Which is a virus. Again, it's the USA. Their society is coming apart at the seams thanks to generation after generation valuing anti-intellectualism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @08:54AM
This medical miracle comes a little too late for Vincent Van Gogh.
(Score: 2) by Jesus_666 on Friday September 16 2016, @04:48PM