Cord Blood Antibodies Predict Ear Infection In Infants.(Brief Article)

2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Immunization of pregnant women to boost concentrations of antipolysaccharide pneumococcal antibodies in their infants may reduce the incidence of otitis media (OM) in the first year of life.

Cord blood concentrations of anticapsular polysaccharide pneumococcal immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies can predict the number of OM episodes in the first year of life, E.T. Becken and associates at the University of Minnesota found, and thus immunizing mothers could raise those concentrations and lower the chance of infants' developing OM.

They followed 415 infants in a health maintenance organization from birth to 24 months, recording the number of OM and acute OM episodes in the first year, to see if there was any relationship to antibodies in cord blood samples from their mothers.

Becken and colleagues found that low cord blood antibody concentrations against serotypes 3 and 19F predicted more acute OM episodes, and low antibody concentrations against serotypes 19F and 23F predicted more OM episodes. Following Poisson regression, only serotype 19F significantly predicted the number of OM episodes ("Low cord blood pneumococcal antibody concentrations predict more episodes of otitis media," Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck ...