Acute mastoiditis: increase in the incidence and complications.

Objective: Acute mastoiditis is a serious complication of acute otitis media, but it can be treated successfully in most of the cases with broad spectrum intravenous antibiotics and myringotomy. In the last 5 years we have perceived that there have been more complicated cases in the otic infectious pathology and the frequency was also higher.

Methods: We reviewed the cases of mastoiditis in the last 10 years (1996-2005) in The Niño Jesús University Children Hospital in Madrid to confirm the clinic impression, the bacteriology, treatments and evolution of the children and analyze the causes of this clinic situation.

Non-hospital consumption of antibiotics in Spain: 1987-1997.

Spain has one of the highest incidences of bacterial resistance to antimicrobials, possibly linked to drug consumption patterns. Using Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs records, data were obtained on non-hospital sales of antibiotics for the period 1987-1997, and equivalents calculated in weight of active drug ingredient and defined daily doses per 1000 population per day (DDD/1000/day). The number of packages sold declined from 75 million in 1987 to 55 million in 1997.

[Geographical distribution and evolution characteristics in outpatient consumption of quinolones in spain and by province (1985-1993)].

The use of quinolones has increased remarkably in recent years. Monitoring the trends in the consumption of these antibiotics is essential for the assessment of bacterial resistance. Sales figures for this group of antibiotics for each province from 1985 through 1993 were obtained from the medication database at the Spanish Ministry of Health.

[Microbial resistance: what is to be done? Information from the panel of experts].

This document represents the recommendations of a panel of Spanish experts on antibiotic use and resistance. In a Task Force, under the auspices of the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs that took place in 1994 in Madrid, the members were gravely concerned about the national increase in antibiotic resistance. They analysed the development, evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance among community-acquired human bacterial pathogens in Spain, its relation with antibiotic consumption, and they proposed future surveillance strategies for monitoring the patterns of antibiotic use and consumption.