Dr Selma Wiertsema at the University of Western Australia – School of Paediatrics and Child Health, works to shed light on the genetics of recurrent middle ear infections in toddlers and young children.
The main mission of the Vaccine Trials Group, part of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research located at the University of Western Australia, Perth, is to improve the health of the community through immunisation and the prevention of infectious diseases.
Middle ear infection, or Otitis Media, is one of the most common childhood infectious diseases, and the number one contributing factor for general practitioner visits, antibiotics prescriptions and surgery for young children. At the Vaccine Trials Group, Dr Selma Wiertsema is researching the reasons why some children have so many ear infections while others hardly have any. Her research focuses on different aspects of the body’s defence system [the immune system] and it’s response against specific bacteria that cause middle ear infections, and the genes involved in regulating the immune system.
“At the moment we’re inviting participants for a study on children who suffer from regular ear infections and who have been targeted for grommet surgery” explains Dr Selma Wiertsema.
AARNet enables Dr Wiertsema and her co-researchers to share their findings and collaborate across the world in this area of one of the world’s most common infections.
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