A rotavirus vaccine approved in 2006 is having a significant impact in the United States, delaying the onset of the rotavirus season by three months and reducing its severity by about half, federal officials said Wednesday.
The incidence of rotavirus activity during the first months of 2008 was the lowest it has been since the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began monitoring the disease 15 years ago, researchers reported in the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The highly contagious rotavirus is the leading cause of severe vomiting and diarrhea in infants and young children around the world. Each year in the U.S., it causes as many as 272,000 emergency room visits, up to 70,000 hospitalizations and 20 to 60 deaths. Worldwide, an estimated 500,000 children die from the virus each year.
The RotaTeq vaccine has prevented 74 percent of all rotavirus infections, 98 percent of severe infections and about 96 percent of hospitalizations. The CDC recommends that all infants receive their first dose of the vaccine by 12 weeks old and all three required doses by the time they reach 32 weeks.
No good data exist about the number of children who have been vaccinated, but studies at selected sites suggest that about 50 percent of 12-week-olds have received one shot and that about one-third of 13-month-old infants have received all three doses.
The decline in new cases appears "greater than expected based on the protective effects of the vaccine alone," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a statement. She speculated that vaccination was helping reduce the spread of the virus to unvaccinated people.In the past 15 years, the rotavirus season typically began in mid-November. Last winter, according to the report, it began in late February
No comments:
Post a Comment