Two of the largest vaccine trials ever show that a pair of new rotavirus vaccines dramatically reduce the severity of the disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrhea among children. More than 600,000 children die worldwide every year. The disease causes vomiting and watery diarrhea for three to eight days, fever and abdominal pain. Medical experts say that routine vaccine use could eliminate most of the 70,000 rotavirus-related hospitalizations in the U.S.

The results from two clinical trials on two different vaccines are in the current issue of the The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings are published separately.

Rotarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline of North Carolina, was tested on 63,000 infants in 11 Latin American countries and Finland. Half received the vaccine at 2 and 4 months of age, while the rest received a placebo. Researchers say the vaccine reduced the incidence of serious illness by 85 percent and hospitalization for diarrhea by 42 percent.

The trial for drugmaker Merck's RotaTeq involved 68,000 infants from the U.S. and 10 other countries. The infants received three doses of the vaccine or a placebo between 4 and 10 weeks old. Those scientists found that the vaccine reduced the incidence of severe disease by 98 percent and diarrhea-related hospitalizations by 63 percent.

These two vaccines were developed in response to the withdrawal of the RotaShield vaccine in 1999. RotaShield had the rare side effect of potentially fatal intestinal blockage.

Neither of the two new vaccines appeared to produce unusual numbers of intestinal blockages. In both instances, the groups receiving placebos experienced more blockages than those getting the vaccines.

Both vaccines are live versions of the virus designed to be taken orally when children receive diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus vaccinations.

Merck has filed for Rotateq approval with regulatory agencies in more than 50 countries.

This Article is from MyDNA.com

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