Rotavirus strikes almost all children, according to David Sack, M.D., professor of international health and director of the vaccine program at Hopkins.
Severe cases cause dehydration from diarrhea and require replenishing water and salts.
Because worldwide the virus causes about 800,000 deaths, developing an effective rotavirus vaccine is one of the highest priorities of the World Health Organization, Sack says. The Hopkins study is under way at several locations around Maryland, including St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, and private practices in Easton, Cambridge and Ellicott City. Enrollment will continue until Thanksgiving. Doctors give the vaccine by squirting a solution into the infant's mouth. Tests of an older vaccine recently tested in Venezuela, and reported in the Oct. 23 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, showed it provided a high level of protection against the disease.