Murphy awarded $1.5 million grant to develop vaccine against ear infections

By LOIS BAKER
News Services Editor

Timothy F. Murphy, professor of medicine and microbiology, has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue development of a vaccine for bacteria responsible for 3.5 million childhood ear infections annually in the U.S.

The organism, Moraxella catarrhalis, also is responsible for about 30 percent of lung infections that develop in adults with chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Murphy, who also is chief of infectious diseases at the VA Western New York Healthcare System, has been conducting NIH-sponsored research for 10 years in his VA laboratories into possible vaccines to protect against bacterial ear infections. His work has resulted in four new U.S. patents in the past two years.

Eighty percent of all children experience a middle-ear infection by the age of 3, statistics indicate. Ear infections are the most common reason for visits to pediatricians, and the most common condition for which antibiotics are administered to children. Repeated ear infections can cause hearing loss, which in young children can lead to delayed language development and learning disabilities.

"Vaccines to prevent ear infections would go a long way to relieving the pain and suffering that children and their families experience and would help prevent learning disabilities," Murphy said. Moraxella catarrhalis causes about 15 percent of all ear infections, he said.

Adults with chronic lung conditions such as emphysema and bronchitis also could benefit from a vaccine for these bacteria, Murphy noted. "People with these illnesses experience periodic infections, and about 30 percent of these infections are caused by Moraxella catarrhalis. These infections lead to hospitalizations in these patients and are a significant cause of death," he said.

With the new grant, Murphy will study two specific outer-membrane proteins of the bacterium to determine if they will be effective vaccines and to understand how the vaccines could be created.

The NIH is also funding his research into a possible vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae, which causes similar infections.