Active clinical trials for "Otitis"

Importance: Ear pain is a frequent reason for pediatric visits. Objective: To determine if a program of anticipatory guidance counseling for ear pain at the 12-15 month routine preventive care visit in a predominantly low income population can reduce medical visits to clinic, emergency department (ED), and urgent care (UC). Design: Single blind randomized control trial of an ear pain counseling program. Setting: The Child Health Clinic (CHC), a primary care clinic at Children's Hospital Colorado, which serves a predominantly low income population with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Participants: 310 mothers were enrolled at their child's 12-15 month well child visit. Intervention: Structured 10-minute education intervention, given by a research assistant, used a slide presentation that reviewed ear pain Main Outcome and Measures: Number of ED, UC, and clinic visits for otitis media for the 12 month period after entry into the study and whether the visit included a prescription for antibiotics.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the microbiota in the upper respiratory tract (nasopharynx, adenoids and middle ear fluid) of otitis media with effusion (OME) patients is changed after 4 weeks of probiotic product intake. Therefore, bacterial DNA from swabs, fluid and tissue will be isolated via commercially available DNA extraction kits, followed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing in order to identify the bacterial species present in these samples. Furthermore, the concentration of specific pathogens will be monitored via qPCR.

The purpose of this study is to describe the pharmacokinetics (PK) of EXE844 Sterile Otic Suspension, 0.3% following a single bilateral ototopical dose in pediatric subjects, immediately after bilateral tympanostomy tube surgery.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the imaging capabilities and image analysis performance of the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope in pediatric patients undergoing tympanostomy tube placement for otitis media. In this observational study, results of OtoSight imaging will not affect patient standard of care.

Acute otitis media (AOM), defined as acute inflammation in the middle ear, is a leading cause of health encounters and antimicrobial prescriptions in children worldwide. Diagnosis of AOM is often dependent on a brief view of the tympanic membrane in an uncooperative child's ear canal. As a consequence, AOM may be inappropriately diagnosed when visualization of the tympanic membrane (ear drum) is not optimal. Improved methods for visualizing the tympanic membrane including capturing still images and recording video of the ear exam would be beneficial in the diagnosis and management of otic complaints, including acute and chronic otitis media. Use of a smartphone otoscope has the potential to optimize clinician ability to manage otic complaints, visualize the tympanic membrane, and support antimicrobial stewardship. This study will be conducted as a randomized control study in two affiliated children's hospital emergency departments. Twenty volunteer clinicians will be randomly assigned to use either a smartphone otoscope or a conventional otoscope for all otic examinations for a 6-month period.

Rationale In Belgium, a unique situation exists for two reasons: on the one hand, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) program, which started in 2007, has quickly reached high coverage in infants: 3-dose coverage rose from 89 % in 2008 to 96.5 % in 2012 in Flanders and from 80.7 % in 2009 to 89.2 % in 2012 in Wallonia; and on the other hand, serotype coverage has moved from PCV7 (since 2007) to PCV13 (since 2011) and very recently to PCV10 (since July 2015 in Flanders and expected in May 2016 in the French Community). Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) surveillance has demonstrated a major impact on PCV13 serotypes in infants < 2 years of age. The impact of the current change in PCV-program is hard to predict, but could eventually result in a re-emergence of serotypes not covered by PCV10 (i.e. 3, 6A and 19A). With this unique situation the foundation was laid for a carriage study during which the nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumonia (Sp) and other common colonizers of the nasopharynx will be studied in infants with acute otitis media (AOM) and in healthy infants attending day-care centers (DCC), two populations with high reported pneumococcal carriage. Young children are an important reservoir and major source of transmission of bacteria to the whole community and thus the preferred population to study nasopharyngeal (NP) carriage. Aim of the study The main aim of this study is to evaluate if changes in the conjugate anti-pneumococcal vaccination program in Belgium have an impact on the nasopharyngeal carriage of Pneumococcus in infants aged 6-30 months suffering from AOM or attending day-care, in order to guide future pneumococcal vaccine program decisions and vaccine development, and to feed AOM treatment guidelines in a PCV-program environment. The study will monitor overall pneumococcal carriage, the serotypes involved and the sensitivity of the isolated strains to antibiotics. In addition, the rhinopharyngeal carriage of other common nasopharyngeal colonizers associated with disease, in particular Haemophilus influenzae, will be studied in order to evaluate if changes in pneumococcal carriage impact on the carriage of those pathogens. In infants with AOM, the study will also monitor the clinical course of the AOM and a second nasopharyngeal sample will be taken in case of antibiotic treatment failure or AOM recurrence to identify any association with the carried pathogen.

In this observational study, insights regarding the tolerability and influence on the quality of life of the topical treatment with Ectoin Ear Spray compared to Normison ear spray shall be gained under real life conditions in patients with chronic eczematous irritations and pruritus of the outer ear canal.

Studies which describe the bacterial aetiology and antimicrobial susceptibility in AOM children in Latin America are scarce. Interestingly, when the MEF microbiology was analyzed among 1,108 children aged 2-92 months with OM between years 2002 and 2007, non-typable H. influenzae was the most common pathogen isolated from the MEF of children with a otitis media failing to appropriate antimicrobial therapy. PCV-7 (3 + 1 regimen) was introduced into the Costa Rican national immunization program in January 2009 and in August/September of 2011, it was changed for PCV 13 (-2+1 regimen). Following PCV-7 universal introduction in Costa Rica, between March of 2010 and January of 2011, MEF samples from Costa Rican children with OM, having received 0-4 PCV 7 vaccine doses, were obtained via tympanocentesis (88%) or from spontaneous otorrhoea (12%). It was interesting to observed that among the initial 134 OM episodes, the most common bacterial pathogen identified was H. influenzae (55%) followed by S. pneumoniae (31%) and that among the S. pneumoniae episodes, 55% were already non-PCV-7 serotypes and that 25% of these isolates were multi-drug resistant. The primary objectives of the study are to analyze the effect of early universal utilization of PCV-13 in Costa Rican children with the number of H. influenzae and PCV-13- S. pneumoniae positive MEF cultures by comparing the data collected prospectively and by the same group of investigators that have collected the original data since 1992, from children for the post-PCV-13 introduction with anonymised information collected retrospectively pre-PCV-7 data (1999-2004) during a transition period in which PCV-7 was used in only the private settings (2005-2008) and during universal use of PCV-7 (2009-September 2011).

Ear infections, or otitis media, are a leading cause of health expenditures and antimicrobial prescriptions in children. Diagnosis of otitis media requires the ability to view the tympanic membrane. An instrument called an otoscope with a light source and a magnifying lens with a plastic tip that conforms to the ear canal is currently the standard of care for examining the tympanic membrane. Interpretation of otoscopic examinations is operator-dependent and cannot be seen by anyone other than the person holding the otoscope. A pocket size attachment that uses the technology and light source of a smartphone to capture images of the ear canal and tympanic membrane facilitates image documentation of the otic examination. In previous studies with the device, the investigators have shown that image quality of photographs of the tympanic membrane taken with the smartphone otoscope are equivalent to those taken with a camera-fitted conventional otoscope. In this study, the Community Provider Assessment Study (CPAS), the investigators will perform a cross-sectional study in which they will randomly assign 3-4 pediatricians to use a smartphone otoscope as the standard of care device for all ear examinations and 3-4 pediatricians to use a conventional otoscope for alternating 1 month periods for 6 months. The parents of children examined during the study period with both devices will be invited to participate in 3 telephone surveys assessing parental satisfaction with the device and antimicrobial use by their child for the otic complaint. The results of this study have the potential to improve diagnosis and management of otitis media, thus improving patient care, reducing costs, and decreasing the opportunity for the development of antimicrobial resistance.

An e-learning module to teach how to evaluate ears in children was recently designed. The aim of this study is to measure the impact of this e-learning module on the trainees' ability to appropriately diagnose ear infection in clinical setting.