Flash News – 09/28/11

 Posted by on September 28, 2011  1 Response »
Sep 282011
 
Flash News - 09/28/11

I haven’t done one of these Flash News items in a while; I apologize for dropping the ball on this one, and I will try to be more persistent in the future. MMR uptake rates increasing in the UK –  The MMR vaccine uptake rates took a beating after the 1998 autism-MMR scare whipped up by Andrew Wakefield. Thankfully, the rates of vaccination have been slowly moving up. The latest news shows that in 2010/11, 89.1% of children in England had received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine by their second birthday, compared with 88.2% in 2009/10 and ———->FULL ARTICLE

Reduction in Gastroenteritis With the Use of Pentavalent Rotavirus Vaccine in a Primary Practice

 Posted by on October 2, 2010  1 Response »
Oct 022010
 

I have previously looked at studies that looked at acute gastroenteritis (AGE) rates of hospitalizations before and after the introduction of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (RV5). Those studies noted a significant reduction in AGE hospitalization rates following the introduction of the RV5 in 2006. In this entry, I will summarize yet another study along the same lines. AGE, commonly referred to as the “stomach flu“,  is a viral infection, and rotavirus is the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in children, credited with causing about 50% of acute gastroenteritis hospitalizations during January-June among U.S. children. Logically, if rotavirus causes it, and if ———->FULL ARTICLE

FDA Revises Recommendations for Rotavirus Vaccines

 Posted by on May 14, 2010  No Responses »
May 142010
 

READ THE FULL RELEASE AT FDA.GOV The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today revised its recommendations for rotavirus vaccines for the prevention of the disease in infants and has determined that it is appropriate for clinicians and health care professionals to resume the use of Rotarix and to continue the use of RotaTeq. The agency reached its decision based on a careful evaluation of information from laboratory results from the manufacturers and the FDA’s own laboratories, a thorough review of the scientific literature, and input from scientific and public health experts, including members of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological ———->FULL ARTICLE

Vaccine efficacy – Rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq (RV5)

 Posted by on May 13, 2010  3 Responses »
May 132010
 

A new analysis, published online by The Journal of Infectious Diseases, takes a look at acute gastroenteritis hospitalization (AGE) rates among US children under 5 years old, before and after the introduction of the first Rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq (RV5) in early 2006. The objective of this analysis was to see if there was any change in gastroenteritis hospitalization rates after the vaccine was licensed for use among infants in the United States. The study I am referring to is this one: Reduction in Acute Gastroenteritis Hospitalizations among US Children After Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccine: Analysis of Hospital Discharge Data from ———->FULL ARTICLE