- Thanks to a doctor in India’s AIIMs, in New Delhi, and efforts of institutions here and abroad, mass-killer rotavirus diarrhoea can be contained to a large extent
- Mission to kill the mass-killer began in 1985. Its containment will result in saving lives of lakhs of children below age of 1 year in India & other countries
- Deaths of more than a lakh children, below 1 year, due to rotavirus diarrhoea, occur in India every year, which accounts for 25% of all such deaths across the world
- Phase – 3 trial of rotavirus vaccine 116E at 3 centres proves it is safe for human beings.
- Drug is said to have 56.4% effectiveness in preventing severe rotavirus gastroenteritis among Indian infants in first 12 months of their life
- Despite limited efficacy, new drug is found to be more effective in preventing large number of deaths
- Continued vaccination of infants will result in sharp drop in number of deaths & hospitalisation of children below 5 years, in 2 years of vaccination
- Vaccine to cost around $1 per dose to be handed over to Indian government after it is licensed
- 3 doses of vaccine can be administered in course of routine vaccination of children for immunisation
- Segregation of neo-natal rotavirus strain has added an extra impetus to efforts at developing other new vaccines.
- Other tropical diseases, mainly hitting people living under abject poverty and at bottom of socio-economic ladder, can be tackled in similar fashion
Exams Perspective:
- Rotavirus
- Diarrhoea
- Gastroenteritis