WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 2 A vaccine approved to help protect children from meningitis and other pneumococcal diseases may guard against ear infections, says a U.S. study.Dr. Katherine A. Poehling of Brenner Children's Hospital followed about 27,000 children in New York and 150,000 children in Tennessee from birth to 2 years old. All of the subjects were born after the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was licensed in 2000.Also in 2000, experts recommended the PCV7 vaccine be part of a child's routine vaccination schedule.The study in the journal Pediatrics found declines in the incidence of serious infections such as pneumococcal meningitis in both children and adults, as well as the number of children developing frequent ear infections.Before the vaccine was introduced in 2000, about one-third of ear infections were caused by pneumococcal bacteria, according to Poehling.Copyright 2007 by UPI
