Routine Vaccination Significantly Reduces Rotavirus Rates

There has been a large reduction in rotavirus disease due to routine vaccinations of children in the United States since it was introduced in 2006, according to a recent study.

According to researchers, the rotavirus infection caused an estimated 55,000 to 70,000 hospitalizations and 410,000 clinic visits every year due to severe gastroenteritis among infants and young children before the introduction of the vaccine.
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“To characterize changes in rotavirus disease trends and seasonality following introduction of rotavirus vaccines in the United States, CDC compared data from CDC's National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), a passive laboratory reporting system, for pre-vaccine (2000–2006) and post-vaccine (2007–2014) years,” said the authors of the study.

Compared to the 7 pre-vaccine years, the number of stool samples that tested positive for rotavirus in the 7 post-vaccine years declined in each year by 57.8% to 89.9% nationwide.

The investigators noted that since routine vaccination began, rotavirus rates have also decreased in unvaccinated adults and older children.

The complete study is published in the April 10, 2015 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Aliabadi N, Tate JE, Haynes AK, et al. Sustained decrease in laboratory detection of rotavirus after implementation of routine vaccination—United States, 2000-2014 . MMWR. 2015;64(13)337-342.