New Vaccine May Be Keeping Childhood Rotavirus at Bay

Rotavirus causes vomiting and diarrhea in the youngest children and can often be severe enough to warrant hospitalization. It can be even worse. Each day, 1,600 children around the world under the age of 5 die from rotavirus infection.

The virus is seasonally active, with most cases of infection in the United States occurring from November to March. However, an early release of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says the peak time of rotavirus infection shifted and was shortened this year, occurring from only February to April.

In medical centers around the country where rotavirus surveillance is conducted, 37% fewer tests for the presence of the virus were conducted. Of these tests, the rate of positive diagnosis for rotavirus was 79% lower than that of previous years.

A new vaccine to protect children against rotavirus infection was introduced in 2006. The vaccine, RotaTeq, manufactured by Merck & Co. Inc., received CDC recommendation status for infants age 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months as a routine part of their immunization program. While the vaccine is, no doubt, responsible for some of the decline in the incidence of the infection, Dr. Anne Schuchat considers the rate of reduction to be better than was expected. She suggests that the vaccine prevented the infection in the children who received it, thereby reducing the number of children who got it and spread it to others. Schuchat is director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The highly contagious nature of the rotavirus is a contributing factor to its spread. In children sickened by the virus, the stool is particularly saturated with the virus. The child and his or her caretakers can pass the virus along easily, by touching objects and other people. It’s possible to spread the infection before any symptoms appear as well as after all signs of diarrhea have passed.

In American children under the age of 5, rotavirus is the number one cause of gastroenteritis, generating over 400,000 visits to doctors’ offices each year. CDC estimates put rotavirus as the cause for between 205,000 and 272,000 emergency room visits and between 55,000 and 70,000 hospital confinements. In the US each year, 20 to 60 of these children die from the infection.

Source: CDC

Filed under: Children's Health, Prevention, Vaccinations