Rare but numerous serious complications of acute otitis media in a young child.

Acute otitis media is a very common disease in children. Most children recover with symptomatic therapy like potent analgesics, but occasionally serious complications occur. We present a 3-year-old girl who suffered from acute otitis media for already 2 weeks and presented with fever, abducens nerve palsy of her left eye and vomiting. She was finally diagnosed with an acute otitis media complicated by a mastoiditis, sinus thrombosis, meningitis and cerebellar empyema. Fusobacterium necrophorum was cultured from cerebrospinal fluid. The girl recovered following appropriate antibiotic and anticoagulation treatment.