Early research suggests that children with a history of severe ear infections or tonsil trouble are at an increased risk of becoming overweight later in life.

Children who get recurrent otitis media suffer damage to the nerves controlling taste and such infections may affect food choices, the researchers said at the 116th annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston

The use of a pacifier or 'dummy' by babies has been identified as a risk factor for acute otitis media (AOM), a type of common ear infection, new study says.

The researchers from University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands studied almost 500 Dutch children who used dummies or pacifiers. The study spanning five years found that the pacifiers almost double the risk of recurrent ear infections in those who used it as compared to the non-users

The emerging "superbug" that causes ear infections in children resists all FDA-approved antibiotics for kids, a new report says. The strain of bacteria can only be treated with an adult medication levofloxacin, which does not have a federal approval.

Michael Pichichero and Janet Casey, who work at the University of Rochester and Legacy Pediatrics in Rochester, N.Y. spotted the drug-resistant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria in nine out of about 1,800 Rochester children who had a middle ear infection from 2003 to 2006

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

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