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The Role Of Antibiotics As Treatment For Australian Indigenous Children With Om

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Otitis media (OM) remains to be a major health concern in Australia, with an inexcusably substantial disparity in the severity and incidence of otitis media, of all its forms, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous child populations. Specifically, children in Indigenous communities suffer from chronic suppurative otitis media at rates that far surpasses the 4% threshold that defines a massive public health concern (WHO, 1996). Currently, the first line of treatment for OM is the use of antibiotics, which is characteristically used to treat cases of acute otitis media (AOM), with or without perforation, and chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) (Morris & Leach, 2009). However, with rates of OM in high-risk Indigenous communities failing to decline, the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment has fallen under questioning. Many studies which have aimed to investigate the role of antibiotics as treatment in Australian Indigenous children with OM have yielded diverse conclusions regarding its efficacy. Therefore, the objective of this literature review is to determine the effectiveness of antibiotics as treatment in Australian Indigenous children with otitis media.
Literature Review
In Leach, Wood, Gadil, Stubbs and Morris’ (2008) study, an investigation was made concerning the effectiveness of topical ciprofloxin (CIP) drops in comparison to ototopical framycetin-gramicidin-dexamethasone (FGD) drops in Aboriginal children with CSOM which was recently treated. The participants

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