Long-term antibiotics, while they decrease rates of infection during treatment, have an unknown effect on long-term outcomes such as hearing loss. This method of prevention has been associated with emergence of antibiotic-resistant otitic bacteria. They are thus not recommended.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) in early infancy, decreases the risk of acute otitis media in healthy infants. PCV is recommended for all children, and, if implemented broadly, PCV would have a significant public health benefit. Influenza vaccine is recommended annually for all children. PCV does not appear to decrease the risk of otitis media when given to high-risk infants or for older children who have previously experienced otitis media.

Risk factors such as season, allergy predisposition and presence of older siblings are known to be determinants of recurrent otitis media and persistent middle-ear effusions (MEE). History of recurrence, environmental exposure to tobacco smoke, use of daycare, and lack of breastfeeding have all been associated with increased risk of development, recurrence, and persistent MEE. Thus, cessation of smoking in the home should be encouraged, daycare attendance should be avoided or daycare facilities with the fewest attendees should be recommended, and breastfeeding should be promoted.

There is some evidence that breastfeeding for the first year of life is associated with a reduction in the number and duration of OM infections. Pacifier use, on the other hand, has been associated with more frequent episodes of AOM.

Evidence does not support zinc supplementation as an effort to reduce otitis rates except maybe in those with severe malnutrition such as marasmus.

Adhesive otitis media occurs when a thin retracted ear drum becomes sucked into the middle-ear space and stuck (i.e., adherent) to the ossicles and other bones of the middle ear.

Adenoiditis occurs mainly in childhood, often associated with acute tonsillitis. Incidence decreases with age, with adenoiditis being rare in children over 15 years due to physiological atrophy of the adenoid tissue.

The incidence of otitis externa is high. In the Netherlands, it has been estimated at 12–14 per 1000 population per year, and has been shown to affect more than 1% of a sample of the population in the United Kingdom over a 12-month period.

It is currently believed that bacterial biofilms play an integral role in the harboring of chronic infection by tonsil and adenoid tissue so contributing to recurrent sinusitis and recurrent or persistent ear disease. Also, enlarged adenoids and tonsils may lead to the obstruction of the breathing patterns in children, causing apnea during sleep.

The most common bacteria isolated are Haemophilus influenzae, group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Streptococcus pneumoniea. Heamophilus influenza, Moraxella catarrhalis and Streptococcus pneumonia are the three most resistant pathogens of otitis and rhinosinisitis in children suffering from these diseases.

Some cases of pharyngitis are caused by fungal infection such as Candida albicans causing oral thrush.

Swimming in polluted water is a common way to contract swimmer's ear, but it is also possible to contract swimmer's ear from water trapped in the ear canal after a shower, especially in a humid climate. Constriction of the ear canal from bone growth (Surfer's ear) can trap debris leading to infection. Saturation divers have reported Otitis externa during occupational exposure.

Pharyngitis may also be caused by mechanical, chemical or thermal irritation, for example cold air or acid reflux. Some medications may produce pharyngitis such as pramipexole and antipsychotics.

In the United States and other developed countries, the incidence of mastoiditis is quite low, around 0.004%, although it is higher in developing countries. The condition most commonly affects children aged from two to thirteen months, when ear infections most commonly occur. Males and females are equally affected.

With prompt treatment, it is possible to cure mastoiditis. Seeking medical care early is important. However, it is difficult for antibiotics to penetrate to the interior of the mastoid process and so it may not be easy to cure the infection; it also may recur. Mastoiditis has many possible complications, all connected to the infection spreading to surrounding structures. Hearing loss is likely, or inflammation of the labyrinth of the inner ear (labyrinthitis) may occur, producing vertigo and an ear ringing may develop along with the hearing loss, making it more difficult to communicate. The infection may also spread to the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII), causing facial-nerve palsy, producing weakness or paralysis of some muscles of facial expression, on the same side of the face. Other complications include Bezold's abscess, an abscess (a collection of pus surrounded by inflamed tissue) behind the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck, or a subperiosteal abscess, between the periosteum and mastoid bone (resulting in the typical appearance of a protruding ear). Serious complications result if the infection spreads to the brain. These include meningitis (inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain), epidural abscess (abscess between the skull and outer membrane of the brain), dural venous thrombophlebitis (inflammation of the venous structures of the brain), or brain abscess.

Otitis media is a particularly common cause of otalgia in early childhood, often occurring secondary to other infectious illnesses, such as colds, coughs, or conjunctivitis.

Otitis is a general term for inflammation or infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals.

It is subdivided into the following:

- "Otitis externa", external otitis, or "swimmer's ear" involves the outer ear and ear canal. In external otitis, the ear hurts when touched or pulled.

- "Otitis media" or middle ear infection involves the middle ear. In otitis media, the ear is infected or clogged with fluid behind the ear drum, in the normally air-filled middle-ear space. This very common childhood infection sometimes requires a surgical procedure called "myringotomy" and tube insertion.

- "Otitis interna" or labyrinthitis involves the inner ear. The inner ear includes sensory organs for balance and hearing. When the inner ear is inflamed, "vertigo" is a common symptom.

Granular myringitis (GM) is a long term condition in which there is inflammation of the tympanic membrane in the ear and formation of granulation tissue within the tympanic membrane. It is a type of otitis externa.

Without treatment it can lead to narrowing of the ear canal. A number of treatment options exist including putting vinegar in the ear, using antibiotic drops, and surgery.

It is normally possible to establish the cause of ear pain based on the history. It is important to exclude cancer where appropriate, particularly with unilateral otalgia in an adult who uses tobacco or alcohol.Often migraines are caused by middle ear infections which can easily be treated with antibiotics. Often using a hot washcloth can temporarily relieve ear pain.

There is low or very-low quality evidence that probiotics may be better than placebo in preventing acute URTIs. Vaccination against influenza viruses, adenoviruses, measles, rubella, "Streptococcus pneumoniae", "Haemophilus influenzae", diphtheria, "Bacillus anthracis", and "Bordetella pertussis" may prevent them from infecting the URT or reduce the severity of the infection.

In terms of pathophysiology, rhino virus infection resembles the immune response. The viruses do not cause damage to the cells of the upper respiratory tract but rather cause changes in the tight junctions of epithelial cells. This allows the virus to gain access to tissues under the epithelial cells and initiate the innate and adaptive immune responses.

Up to 15% of acute pharyngitis cases may be caused by bacteria, most commonly "Streptococcus pyogenes", a group A streptococcus in streptococcal pharyngitis ("strep throat"). Other bacterial causes are "Streptococcus pneumoniae", "Haemophilus influenzae", "Corynebacterium diphtheriae", "Bordetella pertussis", and "Bacillus anthracis".

Sexually transmitted infections have emerged as causes of oral and pharyngeal infections.

Myringosclerosis seems to be more common than tympanosclerosis. Most research has not been conducted upon the general, healthy population, but rather those with otitis media or patients who have had tympanostomy tubes in prior procedures. Of the children studied who had 'glue ear', and who were treated with tympanostomy tubing, 23-40% of cases had tympanosclerosis. One study suggested that people with atherosclerosis were more likely to have tympanosclerosis than otherwise healthy individuals.

The common cold is generally mild and self-limiting with most symptoms generally improving in a week. Half of cases go away in 10 days and 90% in 15 days. Severe complications, if they occur, are usually in the very old, the very young, or those who are immunosuppressed. Secondary bacterial infections may occur resulting in sinusitis, pharyngitis, or an ear infection. It is estimated that sinusitis occurs in 8% and ear infection in 30% of cases.

In most cases, tympanosclerosis does not cause any recognisable hearing loss up to ten years after the initial disease onset. Sclerotic changes seem to stabilise, but not resolve or dissolve, after 3 years.

This is an uncommon lesion, usually affecting young patients (mean age, 30 years), with a male to female ratio of 2:1. The middle ear is involved, although it may extend to the external auditory canal if there is tympanic membrane perforation.

The traditional theory is that a cold can be "caught" by prolonged exposure to cold weather such as rain or winter conditions, which is how the disease got its name. Some of the viruses that cause the common colds are seasonal, occurring more frequently during cold or wet weather. The reason for the seasonality has not been conclusively determined. Possible explanations may include cold temperature-induced changes in the respiratory system, decreased immune response, and low humidity causing an increase in viral transmission rates, perhaps due to dry air allowing small viral droplets to disperse farther and stay in the air longer.

The apparent seasonality may also be due to social factors, such as people spending more time indoors, near infected people, and specifically children at school. There is some controversy over the role of low body temperature as a risk factor for the common cold; the majority of the evidence suggests that it may result in greater susceptibility to infection.

The perforation may heal in a few weeks, or may take up to a few months. Some perforations require intervention. This may take the form of a paper patch to promote healing (a simple procedure by an ear, nose and throat specialist), or surgery (tympanoplasty). However, in some cases, the perforation can last several years and will be unable to heal naturally.

Hearing is usually recovered fully, but chronic infection over a long period may lead to permanent hearing loss. Those with more severe ruptures may need to wear an ear plug to prevent water contact with the ear drum.

Various strategies may be used to manage tympanic membrane retraction, with the aims of preventing or relieving hearing loss and cholesteatoma formation.

The adenoids, like all lymphoid tissue, enlarge when infected. Although lymphoid tissue does act to fight infection, sometimes bacteria and viruses can lodge within it and survive. Chronic infection, either viral or bacterial, can keep the pad of adenoids enlarged for years, even into adulthood. Some viruses, such as the Epstein-Barr Virus, can cause dramatic enlargement of lymphoid tissue. Primary or reactivation infections with Epstein Barr Virus, and certain other bacteria and viruses, can even cause enlargement of the adenoidal pad in an adult whose adenoids had previously become atrophied.

Catarrh , or catarrhal inflammation, is inflammation of the mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body, usually with reference to the throat and paranasal sinuses. It can result in a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swelling of the mucous membranes in the head in response to an infection. It is a symptom usually associated with the common cold, pharyngitis, and chesty coughs, but it can also be found in patients with adenoiditis, otitis media, sinusitis or tonsillitis. The phlegm produced by catarrh may either discharge or cause a blockage that may become chronic.

The word "catarrh" was widely used in medicine since before the era of medical science, which explains why it has various senses and in older texts may be synonymous with, or vaguely indistinguishable from, common cold, nasopharyngitis, pharyngitis, rhinitis, or sinusitis. The word is no longer as widely used in American medical practice, mostly because more precise words are available for any particular pathosis. Indeed, to the extent that it is still used, it is no longer viewed nosologically as a disease entity but instead as a symptom, a sign, or a syndrome of both. The term "catarrh" is found in medical sources from the United Kingdom. The word has also been common in the folk medicine of Appalachia, where medicinal plants have been used to treat the inflammation and drainage associated with the condition.