Rotavirus And Its Vaccine

Among the most common causes for a child’s death all around the globe has been diarrhea caused by rotavirus.  Prior to the advent of a rotavirus vaccine, the virus had resulted in 400,000 visits to the doctor and close to 500,000 deaths of children (below five years of age) per year; most of these children belonged to developing countries. The virus targets infants of a particular age group (3 months - 2 years). Infants who live in day care and are not breastfed adequately become predisposed to the condition.

 

Causative agents and symptoms of the virus

 

Being a double-stranded RNA virus that belongs to reovirus family, rotavirus can only be studied under an electron microscope. Furthermore, the virus has a wheel shape, due to which it is known as rota – the Latin for wheel. Different species as well as subtypes of Rotavirus have been formed, which are known for affecting the digestive system of humans.

Some common symptoms of rotavirus are:-

• Watery diarrhea
• Fever
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain

Transmission

 

The rotavirus is transmitted when the waste of an infected person enters the mouth of an individual - fecal-oral route. Such instances easily occur through objects (toys) and contamination of hands. Owing to such reasons the virus spreads quickly among children. In some cases, the virus is transmitted to people coming in close contact with the infected child.

The virus is resilient and fatal as even the standard hygiene measures such as washing hands or drinking clean water will not be able to control it.

Vaccination

The rotavirus children can be cured with the help of a vaccine (administered on babies in two doses). With the advent of a vaccine for rotavirus, the cases of infection have fallen dramatically. In the development of rotavirus vaccine India vaccine laboratories have played a crucial role.

How Smallpox Faced a Complete Eradication?

Whenever a particular illness stops its circulation in a particular region, it is considered eliminated from that area. However, if the disease is eliminated from the entire face of the earth, then the phenomenon is called disease eradication.  To ensure both eradication and elimination of the disease, vaccine development is given the highest priority; the next slot in the vaccine researchers’ to-do list is secured by clean and quick vaccine delivery.

 

The first-ever disease eradication

Thus far, only one disease, smallpox, has been eradicated in 1980. The decades of initiatives taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) led World Health Assembly to declare smallpox disease as eradicated. Prior to its eradication, the long-in-the-tooth disease had claimed 35% lives of the infected people and left many hapless blind or scarred.

The eradication of smallpox was possible by coordinated efforts put in by the WHO and other health organizations. A well-structured surveillance was the key to eradicate smallpox from its root that had spread all over the world. As soon as a new case of smallpox was registered, the health officials were required to identify other such fresh cases in the same region and administer Ring Vaccination.  The final case of smallpox was reported in Somalia (1977).

Why smallpox was simpler to eradicate?

• Also referred to as variola, smallpox had an obtrusive presence as its patients quickly developed a peculiar form of rashes.
• Second, the time taken for the symptoms to appear was shorter than other diseases
• Third, such short duration had helped in quickly administering the vaccination and containing the disease
•  Final nail in the coffin was when the WHO took consistent efforts to introduce immunizationchart for variola and train the vaccinators. This step was taken to protect those who were not having lifelong immunity to the disease.

With the complete eradication of variola, many hopes were raised to eliminate other maladies such as malaria, polio, dracunculiasis, to mention but a few.

An Introductory Guide To The Vaccine Of Pneumococcal

The most common cause of blood infection, pneumonia, meningitis and ear infection has been a Streptococcus pneumonia bacterium. All of these diseases come under the category of pneumococcal disease. The disease is common during early spring as well as winter and spreads from person-to-person. Some cases of pneumococcal infection have culminated to extensive brain damage. Few invasive pneumococcal infections can also take the life of infants. 

Who should be given a pneumococcal vaccine?

Primarily, the pneumococcal vaccine is administered on three types of individuals –

•  Infants (under the age of 2)
• Old people (above the age of 65)
• Young adults and children having serious kidney or heart condition derived from pneumococcal disease itself

 How often PCV13 is given?

• The infants receive three separate injections – one at two months, followed by another at four months and the last one when during 12-13 months after the birth.
• Senior adults – over the age of 65 years – require a single vaccination, protecting them for life
• The adults and young children require one pneumococcal vaccination or a five-yearly vaccination, depending on the criticality of the health problem.

 Variants of pneumonia vaccine

  

There are two kinds of pneumococcal vaccine:-

• Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV, Prevnar 13 or PCV13) – The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is administered on infants under the age of two. In some countries, the vaccine has become an integral part of the childhood vaccination program.  The development of pneumococcal conjugatevaccine India has risen to a new high with several leading vaccine laboratories contributing in its production.  
• Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) – This is another vaccine, which is administered on people of age 65 and above. Also, the vaccine is given to those people having a continuing health condition.

 Close to 90 types of pneumococcal bacterium have been identified; although, eight to ten of them cause fatal infection. The PCV13 gives protection against 13 strains; similarly, PPV gives protection against nearly 23 strains. With the progresses in medicine, the vaccine development laboratories will soon come up with holistic cures for some of the ills such as pneumonia.