TITLE:
Impact of Rotavirus Vaccination in Severe Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Outpatient Visits at Three Pediatric Primary Care Clinics in Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
AUTHORS:
Tomohiro Oishi, Shinya Tsukano, Tokushi Nakano, Shoji Sudo, Hiroaki Kuwajima
KEYWORDS:
Impact of Vaccination, Rotavirus Gastroenteritis, Rotavirus Vaccine, Prospective Observation, Outpatient Settings
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.4 No.4,
December
2,
2014
ABSTRACT: The impact of rotavirus
(RV) vaccination in reducing severe rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) in
outpatient settings was prospectively surveyed in three pediatric clinics in
Shibata City. In children younger than 3 years of age, the occurrence of severe
RVGE among all acute gastroenteritis (AGE) was found to be significantly lower
in three seasons after introduction of RV vaccines, compared to that in 2011,
before introduction of RV vaccines. The incidence rates of severe RVGE among
children younger than 3 years of
age were found to be reduced by 71.2%, 47.7%, and 81.1% for 2012, 2013, and 2014,
respectively, compared to that in 2011. These results suggest that the RV
vaccination is effective for the prevention of severe RVGE in Japanese
voluntary RV vaccination settings with estimated coverage rates of 32.5%, 40.5%
and 47.1% for 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. It is expected that the
reducing effect on severe RVGE would be persistently established by increasing
the vaccine coverage rates.