A study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, attests to the effectiveness of a vaccine against rotavirus, responsible for acute gastroenteritis, when administered to newborns.
Each year in France, 14,000 hospitalizations are due to rotavirus infection. It causes acute gastroenteritis more particularly in infants and children under five years old. There is a vaccine, but it is only given in special cases. Researchers have succeeded in developing an effective vaccine to prevent the most serious cases in newborns. The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A vaccine effective up to 85%
Trials of this vaccine, called the oral human infant rotavirus vaccine (RV3-BB), were conducted in Indonesia: 1,523 newborns and children participated in the study. Three groups were formed, the first received a placebo, the second (infants) received doses of the vaccine at three intervals: 0-5 days after birth, at 8 weeks and at 14 weeks. The third (still infants) received three injections at 8 weeks, 14 weeks and 18 weeks. The vaccine was found to be 75% effective in the newborn group. It is 51% in the infant group. If these two rates are combined, the vaccine is 63% effective for children in these two groups.
A particularly dangerous virus in low-income countries
Protecting children from rotavirus is a major health issue, especially in the least developed countries. According to the World Health Organization, 527,000 children under the age of five die from it each year. Most of them live in low income countries.
.
