Diarrhoea
Rotavirus remains deadly, although solution in hand
Vaccine at US$ 1!
A new international study published recently in The Lancet provides the clearest picture yet of the impact and most common causes of diarrhoeal diseases, the second leading killer of young children globally, after pneumonia. The Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) is the largest study ever conducted on diarrhoeal diseases in developing countries, enrolling more than 20,000 children from seven sites across Africa and Asia including Bangladesh.
GEMS, coordinated by the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development, confirmed rotavirus — for which a vaccine already exists — as the leading cause of diarrhoeal diseases among infants and identified other top causes for which additional research is urgently needed.
GEMS found that approximately one in five children under the age of two suffer from moderate-to-severe diarrhoea (MSD) each year, which increased children's risk of death 8.5 fold and lead to stunted growth over a two-month follow-up period. The GEMS study in Bangladesh was conducted in Mirzapur through the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b).
Expanding access to existing interventions that protect against or treat all diarrhoeal diseases, including oral rehydration solutions, zinc supplements, clean water and sanitation, can save lives and improve the health of children immediately. However, vaccine to prevent leading cause, Rotavirus is crucial to reduce mortality and morbidity.
Recently, Department of Biotechnology and Bharat Biotech of India has announced positive results from the Phase III clinical trial of ROTAVAC®, at the lowest price available on the market of US$1.00 per dose, says a press release. This is very useful for low-middle income countries to cover the vaccine at large scale. The trial showed that the vaccine significantly reduced Rotavirus by more than half during the first year of life when children face the greatest risk of Rotavirus infection.
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