Otitis media (acute middle ear infection)

Pablo Picasso
25 October 1881, Málaga, Spain – 8 April 1973, Mougins, France

Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period was characterised by sadness and melancholy, both in his personal life and in the pitiable figures he painted on his canvases.
His powerful, creative personality led him to move away from the figurative style, which was the norm in his day, in favour of an independent and decisive character in his work. In any case, there is a great deal of soul in the paintings from this Blue Period. One of the best known is *The Sick Child*, also known as *Mother and Child*, a canvas brimming with tenderness.

♦ The Sick Child / Mother and Child (1903) ♦

♦ Diagnosis
Main symptoms: Child with a fever, well-nourished.
Additional symptoms: Child aged approximately four years, ears covered by a scarf, anxious mother. The child resembles the mother.
Clinical diagnosis: Acute middle ear infection (otitis media)

♦ Definition: otitis media
Inflammation of the middle ear. The symptoms include earache and a high temperature. The pain becomes more severe as the fluid pressure in the middle ear increases.

♦ Discussion
Acute middle ear infection usually follows an upper respiratory tract infection, particularly a nasopharyngitis, and is also often a complication of measles. It is more common in young children, perhaps because their Eustachian tubes are shorter and wider, making it easier for the infection to spread upwards.

Source: Jan Dequeker

Jan Dequeker
The artist and the doctor are looking at a painting

Photos
wikipedia.org