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Vaccines to eradicate Otitis & Sinusitis

26/Sep/2006: Trials of a new vaccine that aims to eradicate childhood Sinusitis (sinus infection) and Otitis (ear infection) and many cases of bronchitis (a respiratory tract disease) in adults will begin shortly in U.S. This vaccine will not be saving lives, but rather prevent annoying illnesses like sinusitis, to make life much better, according to the leader of this trail, Dr. Michael Pichichero, a professor of microbiology, immunology, pediatrics and medicine at the University of Rochester, New York.

Since vaccines for many forms of streptococcal bacteria and Haemophilus influenzae B are already available, this new vaccine will try to counter Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae or NTHi, which remains a main cause of otitis, sinusitis and bronchitis. Dr. Pichichero said that NTHi do not cause life-threatening illnesses in people but they are the main cause for ear and sinus infections in children and bronchitis in adults. He added that 83% of children in United States experience one or more type of ear infections, by the age of 3 and in some children ear infections can cause serious damage leading to permanent hearing loss.

Annoying illnesses like sinusitis and otitis are driving the use of antibiotics in U.S, leading to wastage of money and eventually assisting the bacteria’s to become drug resistant. The University of Rochester will get a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Deafness and Communication Disorders to develop this new vaccine. Dr. Pichichero feels that the development of vaccines against non-life threatening illnesses is lacking pace, since much of the resources are utilized for developing vaccines against serious illnesses. He added that the new vaccine will use pieces of bacteria that cause infections, to trigger immune response in the body.

The trial will be carried out on 400 children with already 20 enrolled for the trials. If this vaccine is successfully developed, only the cold viruses would remain as a main cause of respiratory disease in humans.

K Siva
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