Listen Up - Urgent action needed to reduce ear infections
Urgent action is needed to tackle the huge impact of ear infections on child development and learning, particularly in Indigenous communities.
In today's edition of the Medical Journal of Australia, some of Australia's leading experts in ear disease call for an ear and hearing taskforce to be formed, led by Indigenous researchers and community leaders.
This call was made following a workshop held earlier this year which aimed to enhance collaborations nationally and provide up to date information on ear health research in Australia -- with a focus on ways to reduce the burden of ear disease in Australia.
Over 80% of Indigenous children have middle ear infections (otitis media, OM) by one year of age - a rate that is among the highest in the world. The rate of ear drum rupture from persistent ear infection in Indigenous children is 15% - well above the World Health Organization threshold of 4%, indicating a massive public health problem.
Associate Professor Deborah Lehmann, head of Infectious Disease research at Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, said a comprehensive attack on the disease was needed.
"The more we delay the more children are suffering serious damage to their hearing that can impact on their future education, employment and quality of life," Dr Lehmann said.
"This must be an important focus if we are to close the gap in a range of outcomes for Aboriginal children."
Head of the Vaccine Trials Group, Associate Professor Peter Richmond, said more research into interventions to reduce ear disease was urgently required.
"While vaccines have had some impact on serious infection in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children, more research is needed to improve their effectiveness in prevention of ear disease in all children. Better ways of evaluating this effectiveness also need to be developed.
"We also need to know more about which bacteria and viruses cause disease and how children develop immunity to these infections to be best able to combat it."
The Menzies School of Health Research Ear Health Research Program, led by Associate Professor Peter Morris, has conducted a number of otitis media prevention and treatment trials.
Menzies Associate Professor Amanda Leach said more evidence is needed about the impact of hygiene measures on reducing ear disease.
"It's crucial that more is done to tackle the underlying environmental issues such as overcrowding in homes and exposure to cigarette smoke," she said.
The cost of treating OM in Australia is in excess of $100 million per year. The fact that several OM focussed National Health and Medical Research Council project grants were successful this year raises hope that OM research is starting to be taken more seriously.
The full report on the workshop outcomes is available in the Medical Journal of Australia, published on November 15.
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