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Wait times for Aboriginal children suffering ear infections could be reduced to less than four weeks thanks to a new The Kids Research Institute Australia research project
Congratulations to four outstanding early-career researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia, who have been awarded BrightSpark Foundation fellowships and project funding for 2026.
Otitis media is very common in Aboriginal children in Western Australia and chronic ear disease causes major problems in speech and language development and education. Up until recently, most programmes dealing with the problem of OM have focused on clinical interventions rather than prevention. The Enhanced Prevention Working Group was established as part of the WA Child Ear Health Strategy (2017–2021). The Group has worked collaboratively to develop a set of recommendations for prevention of OM in Aboriginal children.
We have demonstrated that a single dose of a closely related commensal can delay onset of NTHi otitis media in vivo
The most urgent areas appear to be to continue monitoring the emergence of novel otopathogens, and the need to develop prevention and preventative therapies
Presence of bacterial otopathogen in the middle ear during ventilation tube insertion was a predictor of children at-risk of repeat ventilation tube insertion
Treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media with topical antibiotics probably results in an increase in resolution of ear discharge compared with boric acid
We are uncertain about the effectiveness of topical antibiotics in improving resolution of ear discharge in patients with chronic suppurative otitis media
Elevated antimicrobial proteins and peptides and cytokines in middle ear effusion are a marker of inflammation and bacterial persistence
Conserved vaccine candidate proteins from S.pneumoniae induce serum and salivary antibody responses in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children with history of OM