Rota Vaccine Research Paper

Rotavirus Vaccine:

The Scientific Method in Action

Katrina Venta

BIO 105

Professor Baker

September 11, 2017

Rotavirus Vaccine: An Overview Human beings are vulnerable to diseases. It is inevitable that a person will catch a cold, fever, or something more severe in their lifetime. One of the greatest achievements in modern history that prevent or delay a disease is vaccination. There are hundreds of viruses and diseases that infect people yearly, and one of the most common ones is Rotavirus. Rotavirus is an infection that causes an inflammation in a person’s stomach and intestines which leads to extreme diarrhea. The virus is most common in infants and children worldwide, and results to the death of hundreds of thousands of

The scientific method was made evident during the discovery of the virus when Ruth Bishop, a virologist, along with colleagues identified a virus particle in the intestinal tissue of children that had diarrhea through the use of electron micrography (CDC.gov, 2015). Before the rotavirus vaccine was developed, the virus was responsible for about 20-60 deaths in the United States, along with 500,000 deaths globally. As promising as this vaccine is, it is not easily accessible in places where it is needed most. In developing countries, vaccines take longer to become available. Fortunately, a program called PATH is helping accelerate the access to rotavirus vaccines. This organization has established a Rotavirus Vaccine Program and PATH also collaborated on studies regarding the rotavirus vaccine in Africa (PATH.org, 2017). With the help of PATH, Nicaragua made history when they launched the vaccine the same year that the United States

The vaccine was first licensed in 1998, but it was withdrawn in 1999. The reason for this was its association with intussusception. Intussusception, according to the Center for Disease Control, is “a type of bowel blockage caused when the bowel folds into itself like a telescope. This condition is rare and is most likely to occur during the first year of life. Before rotavirus vaccine was used in the United States, each year about 1,900 infants developed intussusception before the age of 1 year. With prompt treatment, almost all infants who develop intussusception fully recover,“ (CDC.gov, 2017). However, second-generation vaccines became licensed in 2006 and 2008.

Effectiveness and Improvements

As mentioned earlier, administering the rotavirus vaccine to infants and children can prevent them from getting infected. In developing countries, when the vaccine was launched, hospital wards that were once filled with critically dehydrated infants and children became virtually empty – proving that the rotavirus vaccine holds a lifesaving value for these developing nations (PATH.org, 2017). The medical and science world is continuing to advance and develop better and less risky ways to administer