It used to be a simple matter for the pediatrician when an ear infection was diagnosed. Antibiotics were routinely prescribed to stave off the infection and relieve symptoms. However, new findings from recent medical research have complicated the process by suggesting it may be better to treat the patient symptomatically instead of using antibiotics in all cases. This is one of the most controversial topics in pediatrics today. It seems every doctor has a different approach to the treatment of ear infections.

The European Standard

More and more doctors are managing ear infections with careful observation and close follow-ups, especially if the child is older and the symptoms are mild. Though physicians in Europe have been doing this for decades, this style of treatment has only started making its way into the United States in the past few years. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recently incorporated this recommendation into its official guidelines.

This conservative approach in managing ear infections has many advantages. First of all, the majority of ear infections get better without medical treatment. Some research demonstrates that as many as 80 percent of all ear infections get better in less than a week without the use of antibiotics. There are many reasons why this happens. Healthy children have an intact immune system, which is more than adequate to conquer most ear infections. In the vast majority of cases, the immune system is able to quell an ear infection before antibiotics even have the chance to kick in.

Secondly, it is viruses rather than bacteria that are responsible for causing more than half of all ear infections. In the case of a viral ear infection, using antibiotics would not make the patient feel any better or recover any faster. Antibiotics are only capable of treating infections caused by bacteria. They are completely useless against viruses. This is another reason doctors do not immediately get out the prescription pad for every ear infection.

Vaccine for Ear Infection

It is a common but mistaken belief that scientists have developed a vaccine to curtail ear infections. This myth originated from the introduction in 2000 of a new vaccine against a bacterium called pneumococcus. This vaccine carries the trade name Prevnar, and the bacteria that it is designed to fight is the most common cause of ear infections. Many people concluded that if the vaccine was effective against this bacterium, then it must be able to reduce the cases of ear infections.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Even though pneumococcus causes more ear infections than any other bacteria, there are still many other bacteria that trigger ear infections. In addition, there are more than ten different strains of the pneumococcus bacterium that can cause serious illnesses. The Prevnar vaccine only protects against seven of these strains. Finally, this vaccine obviously does not prevent ear infections that are caused by viruses.

If this vaccine is no good for ear infections, why was it developed? It turns out that these few strains of pneumococcal bacteria cause the majority of cases of pneumonia and meningitis (brain infection) in young children. The incentive to curb these serious infections was the impetus for the creation of this vaccine. It was never intended to prevent ear infections. Consequently, while pediatricians still recommend this highly effective and useful vaccine, it is a mistake to believe that this series of shots will protect your child from getting any ear infections in the future.