Vaccine successful in treating infants with digestive problems

A vaccine targeting a virus that causes digestive problems and diarrhoea in young children has been deemed highly effective by a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The team of researchers found that the new vaccine, produced by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, protected 85 per cent of infants from severe rotavirus and reached a 100 per cent efficacy against more severe rotavirus episodes. The study was published in Thursday's edition of the journal.

Experts believe that every child will be infected with rotavirus at least once before his fifth birthday, irrespective of where he lives and whether he is rich or poor. Rotavirus is an extremely contagious disease, and large amounts of the virus is shed by people with rotavirus diarrhoea.

One in every six children will need a visit to the doctor and one in 45 will require hospitalisation. Although mortality is low in Europe, with one death for every 55,000 cases, this goes up to one in 500 in low-income countries.

According to experts, every year rotavirus is associated with 25 million clinic visits, two million hospitalisations and more than 600,000 deaths worldwide among children younger than five.

More than 63,000 infants from 12 countries - 11 Latin American countries and Finland - took part in the study, making it one of the largest infant vaccine trials ever carried out. The infants were randomly chosen to receive either the drug or a placebo.

The researchers followed the entire population for two to four months and a subgroup of over 20,000 infants was followed for up to one year of age.

"Rotavirus is highly contagious regardless of sanitary conditions. It can be detected in about one-third of all children hospitalised for diarrhoea worldwide, and mortality remains highest in the developing world," GSK Biologicals' director of worldwide medical affairs, Beatrice De Vos, said.

Dr De Vos said the newly published data gives rise to confidence that vaccination at an early age has the potential to provide protection before the peak incidence of rotavirus - which occurs between six and 24 months of age - and could preclude unnecessary illness, hospitalisation and death.

The vaccine should be available in Malta next year, the local representative of the pharmaceutical company told The Times.