Concerned about news reports linking the hearing loss of the new Miss America to a childhood vaccination, the American Academy of Pediatrics said the actual culprit was a bacterial infection.

The academy said in a statement on Thursday that it had learned from her pediatrician, Dr. Ted Williams of Dothan, Ala, that the nerve damage to Heather Whitestone's ears was caused by a Hemophilus influenzae, or H-influenzae, infection.

Miss Whitestone, who was crowned Miss America last Saturday, told The Associated Press in an interview before the pageant that she had lost her hearing when she was 18 months old as a result of "strong medicine" used to treat a high fever. She developed the fever, she said, after being vaccinated for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, a common childhood inoculation known as the D.T.P. shot.

Daphne Gray, Miss Whitestone's mother, told The Birmingham News in an article published on Wednesday that her daughter developed a low-grade fever the day after receiving the D.T.P. shot. Ms. Gray said her daughter developed a high fever the next day and was hospitalized. Ms. Gray said doctors believed that Miss Whitestone also had H-influenzae, perhaps before the inoculation.