Vaccine Offers Hope for Children's Earaches

Earaches are common during childhood, but a vaccine can ease the pain for thousands of kids.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, marketed under the brand name Prevnar, was approved by the FDA in 2000. It cut doctors' visits for ear infections by nine percent, decreased frequent bouts of ear infections, and reduced by one-fifth the need for surgically implanted tubes that ventilate the ears, according to one large study. An improved form of the vaccine, Prevnar 13, was approved in 2010.

Prevnar 13 targets the most common strains of pneumococcus, bacteria that cause ear infections, but that also cause many cases of serious illness in infants, such as bacteremia (a blood infection) and meningitis (an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal column). Studies suggest that Prevnar will prevent most—about 80 percent—of these serious infections, although it does not prevent all ear infections.

Infants can receive the vaccine as a series of inoculations at 2, 4, 6, and 12 to 15 months of age. Ask your child's health care provider if you have questions about the vaccine.

Limited choices

Although Prevnar will help to prevent some ear infections, parents should be prepared to deal with the earaches that affect most kids at least once by age 3. The usual source of the pain is inflammation and increased pressure in the middle ear caused by fluid buildup because of infection (called otitis media).

Pain relievers such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen definitely help, but when it comes to antibiotics, many experts are split on whether to use them or not. Some favor not using antibiotics, because ear infections will usually clear up on their own. Some doctors treat, while others say it depends on the circumstances.

"Anywhere from 35 to 75 percent of otitis media will go away without treatment," says pediatrician Norman Harbaugh, M.D., of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Practice Management.

Here's one thing you shouldn't do: "Don't demand that your pediatrician put your child on an antibiotic," says Alicia Fry, M.D., an epidemiologist at the CDC.

The reason: Many of the bacteria that cause middle-ear infections have become drug resistant. The usual doses of common antibiotics won't kill them

In a survey in the journal Pediatrics, 96 percent of pediatricians said they had had parents ask for antibiotics during the previous month when antibiotics weren't needed.