Preventing rotavirus in Africa

In the West, rotavirus immunisation became routine several years ago, and we are now enjoying the benefits of fewer admissions for infectious diarrhoea. In low-income countries, rotavirus gastroenteritis is not just an inconvenience, but a common and frequently fatal illness. This is particularly true of sub-Saharan Africa. Uptake of mass immunisation has been slow, because of cost and difficulty in getting refrigerated vaccine to remote communities: the ‘cold-chain’ problem. Unlike bacterial enteric pathogens, rotavirus rates are not much reduced by access to clean water and sanitation. Vaccination is the only viable preventive strategy. Now a new oral vaccine has become available, the bovine rotavirus pentavalent vaccine (BRV-PV) which, remarkably, is heat-stable for up to 6 months at 40°C. A randomised placebo controlled vaccine trial has been reported (Isanaka S, et al. NEJM 2017, doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1609462). In Niger, one of the world’s poorest nations, 3500 healthy infants were randomised...
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Miscellanea Source Type: research