Rotavirus
Vaccination programs against Rotavirus begin to bear fruit. The vaccinations may in the longer term the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children are prevented, is in a new report.
“It is not generally known that pneumonia and diarrhea world’s two biggest killers of children and that it is possible to vaccinate against the main causes of these diseases,” said Mickey Chopra of the United Nations Children UNICEF.
Wednesday published the New England Journal of Medicine a report on the positive effects of vaccination against Rotavirus in Africa and Mexico.
“The Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis among children worldwide,” according to the report. Children run the virus mainly by lack of clean drinking water and adequate sanitation.
Appearance
Prevention is the best protection against infant mortality caused by Rotavirus infection, say the authors. But the vaccine also ensured that the number of cases of severe gastro-darmonstekingen among children less than one years in Malawi and South Africa significantly reduced.
Children in African countries are often disproportionately affected by Rotavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year 527,000 children die from infection with the virus. 230,000 of those deaths are in Africa south of Sahara. Of the seven countries with highest child mortality caused by Rotavirus, six are in Africa.
The vaccines against Rotavirus, according to experts from 225,000 to 325,000 children annually save lives. A vaccine against pneumococcal 265,000 to 400,000 annually would save lives.
Tags: Bear fruit, Rotavirus, Vaccination, vaccine
