CHAPTER 11 – Rotavirus Vaccines

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the potential impact of a rotavirus vaccine. It also discusses current knowledge on rotaviruses applicable to vaccine development. Every year, about 1 million infants and young children die as a consequence of rotavirus diarrheal illness. While most of these deaths could be prevented by administration of oral rehydration therapy, this form of treatment is not yet widely implemented in the developing countries of the world. General environmental measures aimed at improving sanitation, water supply, and hygiene have been shown to reduce the occurrence of bacterial diarrhea, but, in contrast, such measures do not appear to influence the spread of rotavirus infection. The prevalence of rotavirus infection is similar in both developing and developed countries. An alternative approach to control rotavirus diarrhea is the development of a rotavirus vaccine. There is a general consensus that a live rotavirus vaccine should be administered orally. This is based on animal studies in which local intestinal antibody played a dominant role in the protection against rotavirus diarrhea.