The investigational vaccine used in the trial was formulated to prevent those seven strains, which represent up to 85 percent of all invasive disease due to pneumococcal bacteria in children. Of the 47 cases of invasive diseases diagnosed so far since the trial began, none were among the children immunized with the investigational vaccine. The study showed that children in the vaccine group fared better than those in the comparison group in other ways. Up to 95 percent of U.S. children experience at least one episode of otitis media by the time they are six years old. About 60 percent of the cases are caused by bacteria and approximately 40 percent of those are caused by pneumococcus bacteria - more than any other single agent.
Infections caused by pneumococcus are the least likely to resolve by themselves.
Complications of Otitis Media Otitis media can be difficult to treat. More and more infections are resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics and infections often recur as many as three or more times within six months, especially among children in daycare. Sometimes the only option is to surgically insert ear tubes, a procedure performed on about half a million U.S. children each year. Ear tube insertion requires the child to go under general anesthesia and complications can occur afterward, such as discharge from the tubes, scar tissue, and permanent eardrum perforation. While we cannot yet prevent all childhood ear infections, this vaccine has the potential to prevent more than 2 million doctor visits each year in the U.S. due to ear infections.