ABSTRACT
A multicenter double-blind study of 363 pediatric outpatients with acute otitis media demonstrated that cyclacillin, administered in three divided doses (three times a day) for ten days, is as effective as and better tolerated than a similar regimen of amoxicillin. The bacteriologic cure rate for patients with middle-ear cultures was 98% in both treatment groups. Remission of signs and symptoms was significantly faster in the cyclacillin group (3.1 days) than in the amoxicillin group (4.3 days) (P less than 0.05). Of the 179 children treated with cyclacillin, three (1.7%) had drug-related diarrhea in contrast to 18 of the 184 (9.8%) children treated with amoxicillin (P less than 0.01). Cyclacillin produces a rapid resolution of symptoms and a low incidence of diarrhea.