One of the leading causes of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children is the rotavirus, which can cause frequent vomiting and dehydration.
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MUMBAI: One of the leading causes of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children is the rotavirus, which can cause frequent vomiting and dehydration.
According to UK medical journal The Lancet, diarrhoea caused by rotavirus kills over one lakh children below the age of five in India every year.
So far, all Indian parents and children could do was grin and bear it. But now, relief is around the corner in the form of a new oral vaccine, Rotarix, expected to be launched mid-July in India by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
According to Nitin Shah, a consultant at PD Hinduja Hospital and the past president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, two doses of this vaccine can prevent rotavirus infection among children.
“This is the first time that a vaccine for rotavirus diarrhoea will be launched in the country. Rotarix has been effective in places such Mexico, Singapore and Latin American countries. We hope it proves effective in India too,” said Shah. The pricing of Rotarix has not been confirmed but it could cost about Rs 900-1,000 a dose.
Merck & Co too has an oral rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq, which is administered in three doses. Though Merck has not mentioned an India launch of this vaccine, experts see it coming here in a year’s time.
Initially, these vaccines may be available in private hospitals and clinics only, well outside the reach of the poor. AJ Chitkara, the senior consultant at Max Hospital in New Delhi, said that they would go to the masses “if put under the National Immunisation Programme by the government” and made available for free. “But that may not happen anytime soon as administering a vaccine free involves huge expenditure,” Chitkara added.
Meanwhile, an India-specific rotaviral vaccine is being developed by Hyderabad-based biotech firm Bharat Biotech International, in collaboration with the Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Immunology, and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The vaccine has already passed phase II trials and will enter phase III early 2009, said TS Rao, advisor at the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. It will take two-three years to hit the market.
Diarrhoea is caused by over 20 micro-organisms including bacteria. However, rotavirus accounts for 25-55% of all hospital admissions for diarrhoea.
The virus is transmitted through breath, food, water and faecal matter and is extremely contagious. It attacks the intestines and causes severe vomiting and frequent passage of watery stools.
The virus causes disturbances in the oral rehydration solution (ORS) process, which plays an important role in the management of dehydration, said Jaydeep Chaudhary, assistant professor of paediatrics at the Institute of Child Health, Kolkata.
“Antibiotics have no effect and hospitalisation is necessary to give fluids through the intravenous route. In most cases, all that is given orally is resisted by the body,” he added. Most people believe that oral rehydration can treat diarrhoea and so they delay hospitalisation, thereby making matters worse.
“In many cases, by the time the child is brought to the hospital, it is too late to give treatment,” Chaudhary added.
Such vaccines could go a long way in preventing such deaths.
g_priyanka@dnaindia.net
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