The risk for otitis media and the insertion of pressure equalization tubes among young children decreased following the introduction of a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, according to research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Andrew D. Wiese, MPH, PhD, from the department of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and colleagues wrote that Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the leading bacterial causes of otitis media. After PCV7 was introduced in 2000, all-cause otitis media cases and pressure equalization tube (PET) insertions decreased. Further reductions were observed with the introduction of PCV13 in 2010.