A vaccine has been shown to help reduce the number of infants and toddlers developing frequent ear infections, according to new research from Katherine A. Poehling, M.D., a pediatrician at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Results from her study are published in the April issue of Pediatrics.
"This is exciting news for parents whose children suffer from frequent and painful ear infections," she said.
Poehling and a team of researchers followed about 27,000 children in New York and 150,000 children in Tennessee from birth to two years old who were born after the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was licensed. The vaccine was approved to help protect children from potentially deadly strains of meningitis and other pneumococcal diseases such as ear infections.
Poehling found that, during the time that vaccine coverage increased, the number of vaccinated children who developed frequent ear infections and/or received ear tubes declined by 16 percent in Tennessee and 25 percent in New York.
"This vaccine has benefited both children and adults since being introduced into the vaccination schedule," Poehling said. "We have seen declines in the incidence of serious infections such as pneumococcal meningitis in both children and adults, as well as the number of children developing frequent ear infections."
The PCV7 vaccine was licensed by the FDA in 2000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended the vaccine be part of the routine vaccination schedule the same year. Children receive four doses of the vaccine: at age two months, four months, six months and again at about 12 to 15 months, Poehling said.