But chances of complication much lower than with previous rotavirus vaccine, studies show
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Newer vaccines that protect against rotavirus have lower risks of bowel obstruction for infants than a previous vaccine did, two new studies suggest.
"We would call it a small increased risk," said W. Katherine Yih, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School who led one of the studies to examine the risks.
Rotavirus can cause severe gastroenteritis in infants, requiring hospitalization. The condition involves inflammation of the stomach and intestines, and its main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The benefits of the rotavirus vaccine -- preventing the viral infection and hospitalization of infants -- outweigh the risk of the bowel complication, Yih said. "In a typical five-year period following a typical year for births, the vaccine will probably prevent more than 50,000 hospitalizations."
Yih's team analyzed the bowel risk linked with one of the two rotavirus vaccines now on the market. She looked at RotaTeq, licensed in 2006. A team of researchers from the CDC and other institutions analyzed the risk linked with RotaTeq and another vaccine on the market, Rotarix, licensed in 2008.
Both studies are published online Jan. 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A previous vaccine, RotaShield, was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1999 due to the increased risk of the bowel problem, known as intussusception.
The RotaShield vaccine carried a risk of about one or two cases of bowel obstruction per 10,000 vaccine recipients, Yih noted. In her study, she looked at nearly 1.3 million doses of RotaTeq and found the vaccine is linked with about 1.5 cases of the bowel problem per 100,000 first doses. That is about one-tenth of the risk of RotaShield, she said.
As for Rotarix, there were not enough doses in her study to analyze risk, Yih added.
In the other study, researcher Eric Weintraub, of the CDC's Immunization Safety Office, and colleagues did not find an increased risk of bowel problems with RotaTeq. They did find that receiving two doses of the Rotarix vaccine was linked to 5.3 cases of bowel obstruction for every 100,000 infants vaccinated.
Both vaccines are given by mouth. RotaTeq requires three doses, given between 6 weeks and 32 weeks of age. Rotarix requires two doses, given between 6 weeks and 23 weeks.
The risks must be weighed against the benefits, Yih said. "The vaccine is very effective in preventing severe diarrhea," she said.
Dr. Roya Samuels, a pediatrician at Cohen Children's Medical Center, in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said that more research is needed to pinpoint exactly what the risk is.
These findings are not a reason to bypass or decline the vaccine, she said, also citing the benefits of preventing the viral infection.
source : Common Infant Vaccine Tied to Slight Rise in Risk for Bowel Complication
