Rotavirus News and Research

Latest Rotavirus News and Research

Study provides efficient strategy for prevention of rotavirus infection

For children and immune compromised adults in developing countries, diarrheal disease induced by rotavirus can be life threatening. Current rotaviral vaccines are highly effective in the Western world, but are not as effective in developing countries.

9 Aug 2013

Immunization in developing countries: an interview with Dr. Jos Vandelaer, Chief of Immunization for UNICEF

Overall, worldwide, immunization programs reach around 83% of all children – this is an enormous achievement. With this level of immunization coverage, we prevent over 2 million deaths, year after year. This statistic is often forgotten or taken for granted.

11 Jul 2013

Study shows risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome after vaccination is extremely low

Patients are not at increased risk of Guillain-Barr- syndrome in the six-week period after vaccination with any vaccine, including influenza, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

25 Jun 2013

Medicago produces Rotavirus VLP vaccine candidate using plant-based manufacturing platform

Medicago Inc. (TSX: MDG; OTCQX: MDCGF), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced the successful production of a Rotavirus VLP vaccine candidate comprising all four structural antigens of rotavirus (VP2, VP4, VP6 and VP7) using Medicago's plant-based manufacturing platform.

20 Jun 2013

New book explores experiences of polio victims alongside medical, scientific landmarks

Thanks to vaccination, polio has been pushed to the brink of extinction - but can we finish the job? This is one of the big questions which a Bristol academic addresses in his new book, published next week.

20 Jun 2013

Vaccine given to newborns 60% effective against rotavirus in Ghana

Mayo Clinic and other researchers have shown that a vaccine given to newborns is at least 60 percent effective against rotavirus in Ghana. Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, which in infants can cause severe dehydration.

18 Jun 2013

Saint Louis University extends search for new medicines to treat childhood diarrhea

A $750,000 grant to the Center for World Health and Medicine at Saint Louis University will extend the search for new medicines to treat childhood diarrhea, which is the second leading cause of death of young children worldwide.

1 Jun 2013

LDL cholesterol blood level declines found to have abruptly ended in 2008

Decades of declines in LDL cholesterol blood levels, a key marker of death risk from heart disease, abruptly ended in 2008, and may have stalled since, according to a multi-year, national study published in PLOS ONE.

From Quest Diagnostics 14 May 2013

India's DBT, Bharat Biotech announce positive Phase III clinical trial results of rotavirus vaccine

The Government of India's Department of Biotechnology and Bharat Biotech announced positive results from a Phase III clinical trial of a rotavirus vaccine developed and manufactured in India.

14 May 2013

New study provides clear picture of the impact and causes of diarrheal diseases

A new international study published today in The Lancet provides the clearest picture yet of the impact and most common causes of diarrheal diseases, the second leading killer of young children globally, after pneumonia.

14 May 2013

New VLP vaccine candidate produced for H7N9 virus

Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today announced that it has successfully produced a new VLP vaccine candidate for the H7N9 virus that is responsible for the current influenza outbreak in China.

8 May 2013

Opinion pieces address Global Vaccine Summit

Project Syndicate last week published two opinion pieces addressing the Global Vaccine Summit, held in Abu Dhabi from April 24-25, which was hosted by His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in partnership with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2 May 2013

Blog posts address goal of universal immunization

World Immunization Week (April 21-28) aims to raise awareness that immunizations avert two to three million deaths annually, but an estimated 22 million infants are not fully immunized with routine vaccines.

24 Apr 2013

Global experts highlight strategies to immunize more children

In advance of World Immunization Week, global experts are highlighting strategies to further advance progress on the Global Vaccine Action Plan that was endorsed by the World Health Assembly, 2012.

19 Apr 2013

WHO, UNICEF launch new Global Action Plan to save children from pneumonia and diarrhoea

A new Global Action Plan launched today by the WHO and UNICEF has the potential to save up to 2 million children every year from deaths caused by pneumonia and diarrhoea, some of the leading killers of children under five globally.

15 Apr 2013

New national study examines marijuana use and prescription drug misuse

Individuals who use marijuana recreationally are more likely to misuse other drugs, including pain-controlling, but potentially addictive narcotics, sedatives and other prescription medications, than individuals who do not use marijuana, according to a new national study issued today by Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services.

From Quest Diagnostics 9 Apr 2013

New study shows varicella vaccine neutralizes chicken pox

Chicken pox, the childhood affliction of earlier generations, has been largely neutralized by the varicella vaccine, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, which appears in the current online issue of Pediatrics.

1 Apr 2013

Global efforts to address malnutrition should factor in immunization

"On Red Nose Day, we are reminded of the famine in Ethiopia that triggered the first Comic Relief, over 25 years ago," and "as we reflect, we now know that the link between malnutrition and infectious disease makes for a particularly vicious circle," Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, writes in an opinion piece in the Guardian's "Global Development Professionals Network."

19 Mar 2013

Vaccine prices and availability: an interview with Kate Elder, Vaccines Policy Advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières's Access Campaign

One of the key reasons why children are missed by immunization programs, particularly in developing countries where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works, is that the products that we currently have in their present formulation are not well-suited to the places that have the most un-immunized children. These are the most challenging contexts to work in.

19 Feb 2013

Rotavirus vaccination in children impacts on adults

Vaccinating children against rotavirus should be encouraged, say researchers, following findings that the prevalence of the disease has recently halved among unvaccinated adults in the USA.

28 Jan 2013