Acute Suppurative Otitis Media

In childhood infections, otitis media (OM) ranks second only to upper respiratory infections (URIs) in frequency. Additionally, OM is the most common reason for pediatric visits to the doctor. Not including trips to the emergency room, an estimated 16 million office visits per year are linked to OM. Any middle ear inflammation, regardless of its cause or origin, is termed OM. Each subtype has a unique history, course, symptoms, and physical manifestations. The development of OM may be influenced by the immature immune systems of infants or individuals with compromised immune systems due to congenital immunological abnormalities, HIV infection, or diabetes (3). OM thrives when there are weakened immune defenses because it is an infectious disease. Even when the immune system is normal, disease development is influenced by the dynamic between infectious agents and the host’s immune system. In this chapter, we discuss the spectrum of OM, with a focus on acute suppurative otitis media, sometimes more simply termed acute otitis media (AOM).