Promising new vaccine candidate to prevent middle ear infections

Hoping to prevent ear infections for the more than 15 million children in the United States who suffer from them, a promising new vaccine candidate to prevent middle ear infections (otitis media) is being developed by researchers at the Columbus Children’s Research Institute (CCRI) on the campus of Columbus Children’s Hospital.

According to Lauren Bakaletz, PhD, director of the CCRI Microbial Pathogenesis Center, a faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, and the principle investigator for the CCRI vaccine, the CCRI researchers recently partnered with the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pharmaceutical companies and other scientists in an effort to expedite the process of developing what they believe is a long-overdue vaccine for ear infections.

“An alliance of this nature has not been formed since the development of the pertussis vaccine for whooping cough,” said Bakaletz. “Through the collaboration, human trials of a vaccine candidate are expected to begin within a year.”

Inner ear infections are the number one reason young children see their pediatricians, present to emergency departments, require surgery and lose their hearing. Further, it’s the number one reason physicians prescribe antibiotics—a growing concern because antibiotic resistance in children will make treating ear and other infections more difficult in the future. A vaccine to prevent ear infections could alleviate these problems.

Ear infections occur when a child contracts a cold and the virus mixes with normal bacteria that live in the back of the throat. The bacteria take advantage of the child’s compromised immune system and travel through the Eustachian tube and into the middle ear.

The CCRI vaccine targets the bacteria that live in the back of the throat. It causes the child to develop antibodies to the bacteria so the bacteria is reduced or eliminated and, therefore, can't travel to the middle ear.

The vaccine administration is intended at infancy since children under age four are most likely to suffer from an ear infection—the peak is around age two. Currently, CCRI researchers are exploring both an injectable formula and a nasal spray.