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Rotavirus vaccines significantly protective against illness
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Both rotavirus vaccines currently recommended for US children appear to be very effective in protecting against gastroenteritis, according to the results of a study published online this month.
Daniel C. Payne, PhD, an epidemiologist with the division of viral diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, and colleagues enrolled children aged younger than 5 years seeking medical care for diarrhea and/or vomiting, and then laboratory-confirmed their rotavirus infection status and compared vaccination records for either RotaTeq (RV5, Merck) or Rotarix (RV1, GlaxoSmithKline) to determine the vaccines’ efficacies against gastroenteritis. The study took place at seven medical centers between November 2009 and June 2010 and the same time period the following year.
Daniel C. Payne
The analysis of RotaTeq included data on 359 patients with rotavirus infection, and 1,811 patients without rotavirus served as the control population. The analysis of Rotarix included 60 rotavirus cases and 155 patients without rotavirus, the researchers noted.
“RV5 and RV1 were 84% and 70% effective, respectively, against rotavirus-associated ED visits and hospitalizations combined,” the researchers concluded. “No waning of immunity was evident during the first 4 years of life for RV5, nor during the first 2 years of life for RV1.”
Daniel C. Payne, PhD, MSPH, can be reached at: CDC, Attn: Dr. Daniel Payne, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, MS-A34, Atlanta, GA 30333; email: DVP6@cdc.gov.
Disclosure: Payne reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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