Stem Rotavirus Through Wider Vaccination

Prevailing rotavirus disease among children is uniting global institutions and organizations to push for greater incidence of rotavirus vaccination. This was clearly seen at the 5th World Congress of the World Society For Pediatric Infection Disease in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2007.

L C Bravo from the University of the Philippines in Manila says surveillance organizations reported that rotavirus is the main cause of severe acute gastroenteritis among children under five years of age in developed and developing countries, affecting over 95% of children by the age of two years and accounting for around 25%–50% of gastroenteritis hospitalizations. Among the 10 countries with the highest incidence of rotavirus disease–associated

deaths, six are in Asia, reports J Infect Dis 2005.

J Infect Dis 2005 says annually, rotavirus causes 109,000 deaths, 1.4 million hospitalizations and 7.7 million outpatient visits in Asia, at a cost of $191 million. This massive health burden has led to a regional initiative called the Asian Rotavirus Surveillance Network (ARSN) to spearhead disease surveillance to accelerate the drive towards rotavirus mass vaccination.

Meanwhile, K T Chen, Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, says the main drivers of rotavirus economic burden are direct costs such as hospitalizations, and indirect costs such as loss of productivity. Indirect costs are substantial in industrialized counties. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) estimates the annual societal cost of rotavirus infections in the US to be over $1 billion, of which $264 million is on medical costs. This is a clear predominance of indirect over direct costs. In contrast, journal Vaccine estimates the annual societal cost for rotavirus-associated admissions in Taiwan at $13.3 million, of which the majority, $10.4 million, accounts for direct medical costs.

Chen says although few countries have evaluated its economic impact or considered the potential cost effectiveness (CE) of rotavirus universal mass vaccination (UMV), the magnitude of rotavirus disease burden is recognized. Rotavirus vaccination could markedly alleviate the ensuing disease toll on both society and the economy, but it will be important to increase its coverage to maximize its benefits.