Infant rotavirus diarrhea

Rotavirus. Rotavims causes infant diarrhea, a disease which has major socio-economic impact. In developing countries it is the major cause of death in infants worldwide, causing up to 870,000 deaths per year. In the United States, diarrhea is stiU a primary cause of physician visits and hospitalization, although the mortaUty rate is relatively low. Studies have estimated a substantial cost benefit for a vaccination program in the United States (67—69). Two membrane proteins (VP4 and VP7) of the vims have been identified as protective epitopes and most vaccine development programs are based on these two proteins as antigens. Both Hve attenuated vaccines and subunit vaccines are being developed (68). 

Rotavirus — the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infanfs, with approximately 125 million cases worldwide per year and 600,000 deaths — vaccines have been linked with intussusceptions (a problem with the intestine in which one portion of the bowel slides into the next) at a rate of between 1 in 5000 and 1 in 11,000 infants. The only rotavirus vaccine approved in the United States, RotaShield (Wyeth-Ayerst), was withdrawn from market on October 22, 1999, about 1 year after licensure. 

When substantial carbohydrate maldigestion occurs in infants, it can lead to diarrhea. This is most often seen when the infant has experienced some other insult that has damaged the small intestine enterocytes, producing a secondary hypolactasia.This is more so when the infant has a rotavirus infection, and rotavirus is the most important cause of gastroenteritis in infancy. Rotavirus infects only mature enterocytes,... 

Infants are especially vulnerable to dehydration and electrolyte loss due to diarrhea. In a recent year, three million children worldwide, most from Third World countries, died from diarrhea due to various causes. Diarrhea in infants may be due to cholera, parasites, gastritis, a type of E. coli bacteria, rotavirus, and other viruses. In the United States, fifty-five thousand children were hospitalized with rotavirus in 1997, and forty of them died. 

A WHO expert group has reported its view that post-marketing surveillance of both currently available rotavirus vaccines has detected a small increased risk of intussusception (about 1-2/100000 infants vaccinated) in some settings shortly after the first dose [2 ]. The risk is 5-10 times lower than that observed with the previously licensed vaccine, RotaShield, and the benefits of rotavirus immunization against severe diarrhea and death from rotavirus infection far exceed the risk of intussusception. After reviewing the... 

Infection risk In three infants, two with failure to thrive, who had dehydration and diarrhea within 1 month after their first or second rotavirus immunization and were subsequently found to have severe combined immunodeficiency, rotavirus was detected by means of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in stool specimens the virus was confirmed by gene-sequence analysis as vaccine rotavirus [25 ]. These infections raise concerns regarding the safety of rotavirus vaccine in severely immunocompromised patients. 

A number of studies have reported the efficacy of Lactobacillus GG in terms of its antiviral effects. Acute childhood diarrhea worldwide is most commonly caused by rotavirus and can be an important contributor to infant mortality, thus probiotics have been used to both treat and prevent the disease. Two studies were conducted simultaneously whereby European children with gastroenteritis were given Lactobacillus GG or a placebo. A statistically significant reduction in the severity... 

Rotavirus and infectious diarrhea Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide. This virus, which is mainly transmitted through fecal-oral contamination, infects and damages mature enterocytes in the small intestine, and causes watery diarrhea, fever, and vomiting (Parashar et al. 2003). 

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