Some good news to stomach

A 2009 report highlights the need to include a rotavirus vaccine in national immunization programs of the underdeveloped world. Out of a total of 38,580 hospitalized children from 43 countries whose stool samples were tested for rotavirus, an average of 36 percent tested positive. The incidences ranged from 25 percent in the Americas to 47 percent in the Western Pacific region.

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea worldwide among children less than five years old and caused an estimated 527,000 child deaths in 2004.

ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan believes that these numbers are proof that rotavirus vaccination is not being implemented sufficiently in underdeveloped countries. “We have two vaccines that are highly effective against rotavirus: GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix and Merk & Co.’s RotaTeq, which was co-developed by ACSH trustee and Chief of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Infectious Diseases Dr. Paul Offit. The fact that only 27 of 93 WHO member nations have introduced a rotavirus vaccine into their national vaccine programs is a travesty. They are a simple, safe, effective and cheap way to prevent this illness.”