The makers of a new nasal spray designed to help prevent ear infections in children say the formulation has shown positive results in lab tests on mice and might offer a safe way to prevent ear infection in children stemming from influenza and other viral infections.

The manufacturers of the spray from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee and New York's Rockefeller University say that the yet unnamed spray is not tested on humans. However it was completely successful in preventing ear infections in mice exposed to pneumonia bacteria and the flu virus

U.S. government officials revealed on Thursday that the measles outbreak that struck 34 people in Indiana and Illinois in 2005 - the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. in a decade - has been traced back to a 17-year-old girl who had traveled to Romania without first getting vaccinated.

The outbreak was responsible for more than half of the 66 measles cases that occurred in the United States that year

The United Nations is calling on pharmaceutical companies and governments to help prevent pneumococcal diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean, where they are currently killing two children every hour.

A new study says that by providing children with a vaccine, common to kids in the U.S., the world could halve the number of deaths and save almost $300 million a year in health costs for the Americas

Since pneumococcal vaccination became routine six years ago, ear infections have decreased by 20 percent in children under age 2.

The Vandebilt/Centers for Disease Control study came to this conclusion after examining data from kids' visits to doctors' offices, emergency rooms and outpatients clinics.

Dr. Carlos G. Grijalva and colleagues analyzed the effect of pneumococcal vaccine on otitis media, which are painful middle ear infections

Experts are debating the government's recommendation for doctors and parents not to refer to children as obese or overweight.

Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician and co-chairman of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity task force told the AP, labeling a child obese "might run the risk of making them angry, making the family angry, but it addresses a serious issue head-on