<\/p>
Chronic middle ear infections can affect between one-third and one-half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, specialists in Australia say. The disease can lead to life-long impacts on hearing and speech that can have far-reaching consequences on education and future employment prospects.<\/p>\n
However, researchers have been unable to pin down exactly why some children never go on to develop the disease while their friends and neighbours do.<\/p>\n
Now, a team based at the University of Queensland think they may have the answer: the disease-resistant kids have colonies of bacteria in their respiratory systems<\/a> that provide them with protection from infection.<\/p>\n The team studied the microbiomes of 103 children aged between two and seven from two north Queensland communities using nasal swab samples, and also examined their ears, noses and throats.<\/p>\n They found that the children who had the microbes Dolosigranulum a<\/em>nd\u00a0Corynebacterium<\/em> present in their microbiomes were more likely to have better upper respiratory tract and ear health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been puzzled for years now, trying to work out why some children never develop chronic ear disease, despite being in a high-risk category for contracting it,\u201d said Dr Seweryn Bialasiewicz.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBy focusing on the microbiomes in the upper respiratory tracts of disease-resistant kids, we could investigate the ecological networks of bacterial interactions that seemed to be working together to protect against the condition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was clear that these two groups of bacteria needed to not only be present, but to be interacting with each other, to provide protection from middle ear infections.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more about your microbiome:<\/strong><\/p>\n The team now plan to study the effect further to figure out what the exact mechanism of protection is, and then apply it as a therapy or a preventative measure in very young children.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could take the form of a molecule that can be used as a drug for treatment, or as a protective probiotic so that these \u2018good\u2019 bacteria can be seeded in the nose early enough to offer protection against the incoming \u2018bad\u2019 bacteria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As chronic middle ear infections resulting in hearing loss are a major problem with other disadvantaged populations across the world, any treatments developed could also be rolled out globally, the researchers say.<\/p>\n \u201cOur discovery could be applied across the world, helping improve health and reducing the disadvantage gap for a wide range of people,\u201d Bialasiewicz said.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Jason Goodyer Published: Tuesday, 09 November 2021 at 12:00 am Chronic middle ear infections can affect between one-third and one-half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, specialists in Australia say. The disease can lead to life-long impacts on hearing and speech that can have far-reaching consequences on education and future employment prospects. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":254,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss.jpg",704,396,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss.jpg",704,396,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss.jpg",704,396,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss.jpg",704,396,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/bacteria-in-childrens-microbiomes-could-defend-against-certain-types-of-hearing-loss.jpg",704,396,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jason Goodyer Published: Tuesday, 09 November 2021 at 12:00 am Chronic middle ear infections can affect between one-third and one-half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, specialists in Australia say. The disease can lead to life-long impacts on hearing and speech that can have far-reaching consequences on education and future employment prospects. 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