Vaccine for Ear Infections

Reported September 2007

Winston Salem, NC (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Almost every child in America will have an ear infection by the age of two. It's one of the most common infections in babies and today, a simple shot may be the answer parents have been waiting for.

Pediatrician Katherine Poehling from Wake Forest University Medical Center not only treats sick kids, but knows first-hand what it's like to have a child suffering from an ear infection.

"You go home at night. They are just a little bit fussy, you put them down, and they are screaming all night," Dr. Poehling says.

She sees the benefits of the PCV-7 vaccine every day. It protects against seven strains of pneumococcal bacteria ... one of the most common causes of ear infections.

"It's a routine shot in the arm or actually, more commonly in the leg."

Babies receive four doses of the vaccine at age two months, four months, six months and again at 12 months.

"The good news is we did find that children who are prone to frequent ear infections, which we define as three or four separate episodes in a year, are having a reduction," Dr. Poehling explains.

Since the vaccine got the okay by the FDA in 2000, ear infections in children have decreased nationally by 20-percent.

"While I may not personally see that my children have missed an ear infection, knowing that, in all likelihood, they had about one fewer ear infection is a good thing to know," Dr. Poehling says.

The PCV-7 vaccine was first used to fight meningitis and serious blood infections in children. Now it's helping elderly patients avoid these infections as well.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Rae Bush (PAO)
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
(336) 716-6878
rbush@wfubmc.edu

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