Rotavirus Vaccines Could Save 2 Million Infant Lives Over Next Decade

Boston (DbTechNo) – Results of a new study show that rotavirus vaccines could save up to 2 million lives over the next decade.

Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea in children and is very prevalent in developing countries.

In these developing countries, vaccines against rotaviruses are not readily available, thus thousands of children go untreated and some die.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine researchers of a study say that producing mass amounts of vaccines could reduce death in infants born in Africa by up to 61 percent.

They analyzed data from infants born in Africa and Malawi, some of whom received Glaxo’s oral rotavirus vaccine and others a placebo.

Approximately 5% of babies who received the placebo developed diarrhea but only 1.9 % of the infants given the vaccine developed diarrhea.

In developed countries, rotavirus vaccines are now included in the standard immunizations that infants receive when they are born.

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