Action call to halt antibiotic-induced hearing loss

Leading otologists have called for action to counter the growing crisis of hearing loss induced by antibiotics in the developing world. Up to two thirds of cases of deafness are already caused by the indiscriminate use of antibiotics such as streptomycin and gentamicin in many parts of the developing world, and the situation can only get worse, experts warned at a meeting on preventing aminoglycoside ototoxicity in London last week.

Dr Peter Alberti of the Institute of Oto-Laryngological Studies, Toronto, pointed out that in the developing world the prevailing attitude …