<br >Foreword<br >A Letter from Dr， Lendon H. Smith to Dr. Michael A. Schmidt<br >As a pediatrician I knew how to treat otitis media: give the<br >child penicillin， sulfa drug， or ampicillin and take another look<br >in 10 days. If it is all cleared up， fine. If not， send the child<br >to an ENT specialist for myringotomy and adenoidectomy. But<br >why did they get sick in the first place? Their parents loved<br >them， wanted them， fed them well， and even gave vitamins.<br >I was confused when parents would ask， "Why is he sick all<br >the time?" We never got a course about reasons in our medical<br >training. It was just make a diagnosis and write out the pre-<br >scription. The pharmaceutical companies told us that we should<br >become good diagnosticians; they would provide the treatment<br >protocol.<br > You have brought up some embarrassing questions and<br >also have made some connections about which we had no<br >knowledge. But you are right. There are reasons for everything.<br > You have given us the reasons， and some new ways of<br >looking at some old problems. In a clear and logical fashion<br >you have outlined the factors involved in--not just ear infec-<br >tions-but sickness in general. Your revelation of the connec-<br >tion between fats and infection-susceptibility is a classic; I<br >have never read anything so easy to uN~NIN， Thg g~lag~gC<br >on alternative treatment is especially valuable because it shows<br >parents that methods other than antibtiotics and surgery are<br >being used to care for earaches. This chapter is valuable to doc-<br >tory beeauge it outlines thc details of thc~c nacthods.<br > You have thoroughly researched the field and have carefutt-，1<br > separated out the logical from the spurious. You are caretul to<br > state if you have found some real controversy in the treatment<br > of otitis media. The general public should have your book as<br > a ready reference so that the average parent can confront the<br > treating doctor with the published studies.<br >XII<br ><br >