Smoking And Its Effect On Ear Infections
While ear infections are a common illness, there are factors that can increase your chance of getting this painful illness.
One of the worst risk factors for is smoking.
Studies have shown that cigarette smoke greatly increases the likeliness of suffering from ear infection symptoms.
This article will discuss the causes, the danger of smoking and the danger of recurrence of infection symptoms.
The Causes For the purposes of this article we will discuss only middle ear infections, medically speaking Otitis Media, the most common among children.
Symptoms of this illness are caused when a bacteria or virus enters the ear canal through a tube in the nose, the Eustachian tube.
This usually happens when the child already has a cold or virus causing a thickening of mucus, which encourages the growth of bacteria.
Once the bacteria travels to the middle ear canal, growth continues into an infection.
It can be a few days before the typical symptoms; fever, earache, draining of fluid from the ear, become evident.
How Smoking Can Increase This Chance As mentioned, the thickening of mucus in the nasal passage promotes the growth and spreading of bacteria into the ear canal.
Cigarette smoke is irritating to the nasal passage.
In response to this, as with any irritate, the nose builds up its defense (mucus).
This "defense" against the cigarette smoke is what carries the bacteria or virus into your child's middle ear canal.
Studies have shown that the presence of cigarette, or any tobacco, smoke can increase the chance of getting an ear infection by 48% in children and up to 80% in infants.
Another way cigarette smoke affects your child's risk of getting sick is by suppressing their immune system.
It has long been shown that cigarette smoke decreases the effectiveness of the immune system and it is generally accepted that secondhand smoke has the same effect on those around it.
Therefore prolonged or repeated exposure to cigarette smoke can make it harder for your child's body to fight off an infection.
Dangers Of Recurring Infections Not only does smoke increase the chance of a child getting an ear infection, it also significantly raises the chance that they will get them over and over again.
While the average child may suffer from Otitis Media three times before the age of six, a child who lives in a house with a parent who smokes suffers an average of eight.
That's a big difference.
Aside from the pain that comes with ear infections, frequent reoccurence can cause several complications to a young child.
Probably the most disturbing is the hearing loss that can come after repeated instances.
This is rare but becomes more likely each time the child experiences the infection symptoms.
A doctor may recommend ear tubes for a child with many reoccurence.
Lastly, instances of prolonged balance problems have been diagnosed in children who have experienced many ear infections.
For all these reasons, and those of common sense, it is vitally important to avoid smoking around your child.
It is also important to prevent their exposure to secondhand smoke as much as possible by avoiding areas where smoking is common and not allowing family and friends to smoke in your home.
One of the worst risk factors for is smoking.
Studies have shown that cigarette smoke greatly increases the likeliness of suffering from ear infection symptoms.
This article will discuss the causes, the danger of smoking and the danger of recurrence of infection symptoms.
The Causes For the purposes of this article we will discuss only middle ear infections, medically speaking Otitis Media, the most common among children.
Symptoms of this illness are caused when a bacteria or virus enters the ear canal through a tube in the nose, the Eustachian tube.
This usually happens when the child already has a cold or virus causing a thickening of mucus, which encourages the growth of bacteria.
Once the bacteria travels to the middle ear canal, growth continues into an infection.
It can be a few days before the typical symptoms; fever, earache, draining of fluid from the ear, become evident.
How Smoking Can Increase This Chance As mentioned, the thickening of mucus in the nasal passage promotes the growth and spreading of bacteria into the ear canal.
Cigarette smoke is irritating to the nasal passage.
In response to this, as with any irritate, the nose builds up its defense (mucus).
This "defense" against the cigarette smoke is what carries the bacteria or virus into your child's middle ear canal.
Studies have shown that the presence of cigarette, or any tobacco, smoke can increase the chance of getting an ear infection by 48% in children and up to 80% in infants.
Another way cigarette smoke affects your child's risk of getting sick is by suppressing their immune system.
It has long been shown that cigarette smoke decreases the effectiveness of the immune system and it is generally accepted that secondhand smoke has the same effect on those around it.
Therefore prolonged or repeated exposure to cigarette smoke can make it harder for your child's body to fight off an infection.
Dangers Of Recurring Infections Not only does smoke increase the chance of a child getting an ear infection, it also significantly raises the chance that they will get them over and over again.
While the average child may suffer from Otitis Media three times before the age of six, a child who lives in a house with a parent who smokes suffers an average of eight.
That's a big difference.
Aside from the pain that comes with ear infections, frequent reoccurence can cause several complications to a young child.
Probably the most disturbing is the hearing loss that can come after repeated instances.
This is rare but becomes more likely each time the child experiences the infection symptoms.
A doctor may recommend ear tubes for a child with many reoccurence.
Lastly, instances of prolonged balance problems have been diagnosed in children who have experienced many ear infections.
For all these reasons, and those of common sense, it is vitally important to avoid smoking around your child.
It is also important to prevent their exposure to secondhand smoke as much as possible by avoiding areas where smoking is common and not allowing family and friends to smoke in your home.
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