EU approves Rotavirus drug

The European Commission has granted approval for a drug targeting a virus that causes digestive problems and diarrhoea in young children to be marketed in the European Union, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline said yesterday.

The company said the Commission will be allowing active vaccination of infants from the age of six weeks.

A local representative of the company said the drug should be available in Malta this year. Statistics show that almost 100 positive cases of rotavirus were registered in Malta in 2004.

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 are 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.