New GlaxoSmithKline vaccine to combat Rotavirus menace

Rotavirus gastroenteritis, an infection that afflicts virtually every child in the world within the first five years of life and accounts for up to half the hospitalisations due to diarrhoea, can now be prevented in Sri Lanka with the launch in December 2007 of RotarixT an oral two-dose vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals, one of the world's leading manufacturers of vaccines.

Already licensed in over 100 countries and launched in 61 of them where some 14 million doses have been distributed, Rotarix has shown up to 100 per cent efficacy in protecting infants against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in clinical studies involving over 70,000 infants, its manufacturer told medical professionals at the formal launch of the vaccine in Colombo last week.

In Europe, where Rotarix was approved in February 2006 for vaccination of infants from the age of six weeks, the vaccine has prevented 96 per cent of hospitalisations due to rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) and reduced the need for medical attention by 84 per cent.

"The arrival of this vaccine in our country will be a source of great relief to parents of children under the age of five Managing Director of GSK (Pharmaceuticals) in Sri Lanka, Stuart Chapman said .

"About 90 per cent of the 611,000 deaths of children annually due to rotavirus gastroenteritis occur in Asia and Africa, and it is time that steps are taken to protect our infants from this disease."

In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that about 1000 children under the age of five die as a result of diarrhoea every year. Of these deaths, about 250 or 25 per cent are caused by rotavirus, a highly contagious strain of virus that can survive in the environment for hours on hands and for days on solid surfaces.