(Press-News.org) "Implementation of infant rotavirus vaccination in 2006 has substantially reduced the burden of severe gastroenteritis among U.S. children younger than 5 years," write Paul A. Gastanaduy, M.D., M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues. "Whether indirect protection (due to reduced transmission of rotavirus) extends to adults remains unclear."
As reported in a Research Letter, the authors assessed patterns of gastroenteritis hospitalizations among children 5 years of age or older and among adults before and after implementation of infant rotavirus immunization. Rotavirus-coded and cause-unspecified gastroenteritis discharges from January 2000 through December 2010 were retrieved from a nationally representative database of hospital inpatient stays, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Estimates were determined of annual and monthly incidence rate ratios (RR) of the postvaccine years (2008, 2009, and 2010) separately and combined vs. the prevaccine years (2000-2006); 2007 was a transition year with limited coverage and was excluded.
The researchers found that compared with prevaccine years, during 2008-2010, statistically significant reductions were observed in rotavirus-coded discharges in the age groups 0-4 years; 5-14 years; and 15-24 years. Similarly, significant reductions were observed in cause-unspecified discharges in the age groups 0-4 years; 5-14 years; 15-24 years; and 25-44 years. "Compared with prevaccine years, significant reductions in rotavirus-coded discharges occurred up to age 25 years in 2008, age 15 years in 2009, and across all age groups in 2010, with similar patterns for cause-unspecified discharges. Cause-unspecified reductions across all age groups and postvaccine years were focused in the late winter and early spring; in 2010, significant reductions were observed in March or April for all age groups."
"The pattern of observed reductions in gastroenteritis discharges among unvaccinated older children and adults is consistent with indirect protection resulting from infant rotavirus vaccination," the authors write. "These results point to the primacy of children in the transmission of rotavirus and illustrate how indirect benefits may amplify the effect of the U.S. rotavirus vaccination program."
###
(doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.170800; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Gastroenteritis hospitalizations in adults reduced since start of infant rotavirus vaccination
2013-08-28
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Early diabetes interventions may also reduce heart disease risk
2013-08-28
Chevy Chase, MD—Two treatments that slow the development of diabetes also may protect people from heart disease, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Researchers examined the effect that making intensive lifestyle changes or taking the medication metformin had on cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The study, part of the National Institutes of Health's Diabetes Prevention Program, found that both treatments induced positive changes in the level of particles that carry cholesterol ...
Low inflammation may explain healthy metabolic status in some obese people
2013-08-28
Chevy Chase, MD—Reduced levels of inflammation may explain how some obese people are able to remain metabolically healthy, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Obesity generally is linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Some people who are obese, however, do not develop high blood pressure and unfavorable cholesterol profiles – factors that increase the risk of metabolic diseases. This phenomenon is described as metabolically healthy obesity. Although estimates ...
Harmful particles in Icelandic volcanic ash fell first, says new research
2013-08-28
The type of particles which are most harmful to jet engines were the first to fall out of the Eyjafjallajökull ash plume following the volcano's eruption in 2010, delegates at the Goldschmidt conference will be told today (Wednesday 28th August).
The research, led by Dr Bernard Grobety of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, will help to mitigate the impact of future volcanic eruptions on air travel.
Dr Grobety's team analysed samples of volcanic ash taken at different points in its journey from the volcano across Europe. They found that the two different forms ...
New approach to celiac testing identifies more Australians at risk
2013-08-28
Contact: Vanessa Solomon
solomon@wehi.edu.au
61-393-452-971
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Pam Lord
pam@canalecomm.com
619-849-6003
Canale Communications
New approach to celiac testing identifies more Australians at risk
Australian researchers have developed a new approach to detecting coeliac disease, revealing this immune disorder is far more common than previously recognised.
In a study of more than 2500 Victorians the researchers combined traditional antibody testing (measuring the immune response to gluten) with an assessment of specific genetic ...
Investigational oral regimen for hepatitis C shows promise in NIH trial
2013-08-28
In a study of an all-oral drug regimen, a majority of volunteers with liver damage due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were cured following a six-month course of therapy that combined an experimental drug, sofosbuvir, with the licensed antiviral drug ribavirin. The results showed that the regimen was highly effective in clearing the virus and well tolerated in a group of patients who historically have had unfavorable prognoses.
Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the NIH Clinical Center, parts of the National Institutes ...
Frontiers news briefs: Aug. 26
2013-08-28
Frontiers in Psychology
Interesting and useful musings are associated with a happy mood
Mind wandering can be a sign of mental wellbeing, provided that your off-task musings are interesting and useful even if not related to the task at hand, finds a new study in Frontiers in Psychology.
The negative effects of mind wandering on performance and mood have recently received much attention, for example in the much-publicized study A wandering mind is an unhappy mind (Science 2010, 330:932). But Michael S. Franklin and colleagues here use a similar but more detailed experimental ...
Mayo Clinic: High-tech imaging contributing to overdiagnosis of low-risk thyroid cancers
2013-08-28
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- An increasing gap between the incidence of thyroid cancer and deaths from the disease suggests that low-risk cancers are being overdiagnosed and overtreated, a study from the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery finds. The study appears in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.
"High tech imaging technologies such as ultrasound, CT and MRI can detect very small thyroid nodules many of which are slow growing papillary thyroid cancers, says the study's lead author Juan Pablo Brito, M.B.B.S. an endocrine fellow and health ...
European hunter-gatherers owned pigs as early as 4600 BC
2013-08-28
European hunter-gatherers acquired domesticated pigs from nearby farmers as early as 4600BC, according to new evidence.
The international team of scientists, including researchers at Durham and Aberdeen universities, showed there was interaction between the hunter-gatherer and farming communities and a 'sharing' of animals and knowledge. The interaction between the two groups eventually led to the hunter-gatherers incorporating farming and breeding of livestock into their culture, say the scientists.
The research, published in Nature Communications today (27 August), ...
New surgical tool may help sleep apnea sufferers, Wayne State research finds
2013-08-28
DETROIT — A Wayne State University researcher's innovative use of a new tool may make surgery a more viable option for sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).
Ho-Sheng Lin, M.D., a fellow with the American College of Surgeons and professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the School of Medicine and Karmanos Cancer Institute, reported promising results in the July issue of The Laryngoscope, for treating sleep apnea using transoral robotic surgery (TORS), a technique whose safety and tolerability have recently been established for removing ...
Contagious savings
2013-08-28
A commercial health insurer's large scale demonstration program designed to improve quality and lower costs for subscribers also lowered costs for Medicare patients who used the same health care providers but were not covered by the plan.
"These findings suggest that provider groups are willing—and able—to make systemic changes that result in higher-value care for patients across the board," said author J. Michael McWilliams, assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School and a practicing general internist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The ...