By RICK COUSINS Correspondent
It’s not easy being a baby on the Gulf Coast. Many, if not most, will suffer painful ear infections, often in serial fashion. What’s a mother, watching her infant in distress, to do?
The University of Texas Medical Branch’s Dr. Tasnee Chonmaitree has good news: both breast-feeding and vaccinations help reduce ear infection rates in babies.
The professor of Infectious Diseases in the university’s Department of Pediatrics has completed a study that suggests that higher rates of breast-feeding, use of vaccinations and lower rates of being exposed to secondhand smoke may be the best options for improving infant ear infection rates.
“Breast-feeding confers maternal immunity to the babies that help prevent various infections, including the common cold and ear infection,” Chonmaitree said. “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using it for about six months.”
The second weapon against such infections is not a single vaccination, but an array of them. Including, for older babies, a flu shot. It is important to follow the complete schedule from birth through early childhood in order to block the many sources for common viral and bacterial ear invasions.
“The vaccines which help prevent ear infection specifically, are pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13 (PCV13) and influenza vaccine. PCV13 is recommended at 2, 4, 6 months with a booster at 12-15 months,” Chonmaitree said.
“Plus, influenza vaccine prevents influenza, which can also lead to ear infections; it is recommended yearly before influenza season for infants and children older than 6 months of age.”
Although the vaccines are not provided for free, Dr. Patricia Beach, director of ambulatory pediatrics, said that most would be able to find a way to fund them.
“Access to vaccines depends on the child’s health insurance status,” she said. “Most insurance, including Medicaid and CHIP, provide coverage for vaccines.
“For uninsured children, there are mechanisms to get the vaccine through the government’s Vaccines for Children Program. Parents of uninsured children who would like their children to have the vaccines are advised to call UTMB or the Galveston Health District.”
Perhaps the most problematic risk factor is the third and last one studied. Smoking around infants simply isn’t good for them and ear infections are one symptom of their bodies’ displeasure with secondhand smoke.
“It is a known risk factor for ear infection,” Chonmaitree said. “The general recommendation is that the elimination of passive tobacco smoke will help lower the risk.
Ear infections are not life-threatening, but there are additional reasons to take them seriously.
Infants who have their first ear infection when younger than six months tend to have repeated ear infections and repeated treatments of unnecessary infections can increase the rate of antibiotic resistance, a problem which can affect any one old or young.
Without prevention, the late alternative is generally surgery that is, inserting drainage tubes in the ears which can require full anesthesia for the very young.
“One complication of repeated ear infections is retention of fluid in the middle ear, which may cause impaired hearing — an impediment to child’s development,” Chonmaitree said. “Thus, ear infection is the most common reason children undergo surgery, ear tube placement, to drain out the middle ear fluid.”
Other authors of this paper include the medical branch’s Rocio Trujillo, Kristofer Jennings, Pedro Alvarez-Fernandez, Janak Patel, Michael Loeffelholz, Johanna Nokso-Koivisto, Reuben Matalon, Richard Pyles, Aaron Miller and David McCormick. Their research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Rick Cousins can be reached at rick.cousins@galvnews.com.