Rotavirus vaccine to be introduced for babies

I was scanning the NHS website and came across an interesting article regarding a new vaccine being introduced to babies as part of their childhood vaccination programme.

Here is the article:

NHS article

Rotavirus is a virus that causes infection of the stomach and bowel. It can be a serious illness in the very young, especially babies. Symptoms of the virus include:

• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Stomach ache
• Fever of 38 degrees

The symptoms tend to last from a week to two. The highest risk population are the very young children. They may suffer from severe complications if faced with extreme dehydration. A very small number of children even die from the rotavirus infection each year.

Rotavirus is a highly infectious stomach bug that causes around 140,000 diarrhoea cases a year in under-fives in this country. It leads to hospital stays for nearly one in 10 of those who get it.

The vaccine is expected to be introduced in September 2013 and will be given to infants under the age of four months.

It is estimated that the vaccine will halve the number of vomiting and diarrhoea cases caused by rotavirus and there could be 70% fewer hospital stays as a result.

The vaccine is used over 30 countries and is completely safe. It will be introduced from September 2013.