This is the largest and most successful trial to date of a rotavirus vaccine among children in a developing country. Worldwide, rotavirus diarrhea affects 130 million infants and children each year, some 18 million of whom have moderate to severe disease, resulting in 873,000 deaths. Results are reported Oct. 23 in The New England Journal of Medicine. In this setting, the vaccine proved to be very efficacious. Children in developing countries more often develop severe and fatal illness.
Symptoms develop quickly and, in addition to diarrhea, include vomiting, fever and dehydration.
In severe cases, a child can experience 10 to 20 episodes of diarrhea and 10 to 15 vomiting episodes per day. Dehydration can be reversed through oral rehydration therapy or, if more serious, through hospitalization and intravenous fluids. Although effective, these therapies are not readily available or utilized in many parts of the developing world, Dr. Kapikian says. Practically every child in the developed and developing world will be infected with rotavirus in the first few years of life, regardless of hygienic conditions. Dr. Kapikian has devoted a major part of his career to working on rotavirus since its discovery almost 25 years ago by Australian investigators.