Effectiveness of pandemic influenza vaccine on Otitis Media in infant and children

Although Streptococcus pneumoniae, non-typable Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis are the most common bacterial pathogens in the etiology of otitis media, there is some evidence that the acute otitis media (AOM) attacks are associated with viral enfections, are significantly increasing.Viral agents, especially influenzae virus, predispose to development of AOM by inducing some ciliary and mucinous changes in the respiratory system epithelial cells that affect middle ear pressure and cause tube dysfunction and by changing the leucocyte functions and enable to the adhesion of bacterias to the respiratory system cells.In previous studies, the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine has been shown in the otitis media. In 2009, in our country, as well as in the world, there had been H1N1 pandemia, and therefore we expect an increase the frequency of otitis media.We sought to determine the efficacy of the pandemic H1N1 vaccine in our population, against pandemic influenza-associated otitis media attacks, in the healthy children, similarly seasonal influenza vaccine.In our study, there were no differences between the frequencies of AOM, otitis media with effusion (OME) and total otitis media episodes in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, and the differences were not statistically significant. But logistic regression analysis showed that in unvaccinated group had a risk for otitis media 2.9 fold compared with vaccinated group.Additionally, frequency of C2 and B type curve, which shows the effusion and enfection of middle ear cavity, were not statistically significant difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.In the children we studied, we were not able to show that the difference in the pandemic H1N1 vaccine efficacy against otitis media, differently from seasonal influenza vaccine.Key Words: Pandemic H1N1 Vaccine, Otitis Media, Tympanometry