Acute otitis media in early infancy. Recurrence and prophylaxis.

During a four-year period, two groups of patients were observed for recurrences of bouts of acute otitis media (AOM) after initial episodes of AOM in early infancy. Of 19 infants with a first bout of AOM before 3 months of age, all had at least one recurrence within eight months, of them 15 (79%) within four months. All members of a second group of 37 infants with two bouts of AOM before 12 months of age had a third bout within 14 months, and 28 of them (76%) had a recurrence within four months.