Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121459

Go Tanaka, MD, Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, #1518 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 300322, 404.403.1366, gtanaka@sph.emory.edu and Stephen Luby, MD, Programme on Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Sciences, ICDDR,B, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh.

(Backgrounds) Rotavirus is a common cause of severe gastroenteritis and dehydration in children worldwide. Using data from the early 1990s, the previous researchers estimated 15,000 children died per year. With new vaccines expected to be available soon, we recalculated the estimate of disease burden. (Methods) From 1993 to 2004, hospital surveillance was conducted of a systematic sampling 2% (4 % till 1995) from patients visiting the ICDDR,B diarrhea hospital and sampling from all patients visiting the rural Matlab hospital, who were part of 220,000 population under surveillance. In summer 2005, we analyzed the routinely collected data. We assumed that the proportion of diarrheal deaths attributable to rotavirus was equivalent to the proportion of diarrhea cases hospitalized at the two hospitals attributable to rotavirus. (Results) Rotavirus was detected in average 35% of fecal specimens from children with diarrhea < 5 years. In 1993 it was detected only 20%, but the prevalence is growing gradually (47% in 1999 and 40% in 2004). According to the Demographic and Health Survey 2004, the under 5 mortality rate was 88 deaths per 1,000 live births; 12% of these deaths were due to diarrhea. Thus we estimate that approximately 13,000 children die each year from rotavirus. (Discussions) Although under 5 mortality and deaths due to diarrhea have decreased, the increasing proportion of diarrhea severe enough to require hospitalization attributable to rotavirus suggests that nearly the same numbers are dying, compared to 15 years ago. Thus, a safe and effective rotavirus vaccine remains an important goal.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Learn about the character and prevalence of rotavirus gastroenteritis at ICDDR,B.
• Estimate the disease burden of under 5 children by rotavirus in Bangladesh.
• Understand the importance of introducing a rotavirus vaccine in developing countries.

Keywords: International Health, Preventive Medicine

Related Web page: www.icddrb.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation