The FDA has recently reported that there have been 28 post-marketing reports of intussuception after infants received their dose of the RotaTeq rotavirus vaccine. Keep in mind that this is not any higher than would be expected to occur naturally though, so it is not known if the cases were caused by the RotaTeq vaccine or simply occured by coincidence (the infant would have had intussusception anyway, and just so happened to also have gotten RotaTeq).
If your child develops symptoms of intussusception, which can include stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, blood in his stool, or other changes to his bowel movements, be sure to call your doctor and report it to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
The last rotavirus vaccine was withdrawn fairly quickly once reports of intussusception began coming in, which is unfortunate, since rotavirus is a serious illness, and a rotavirus vaccine, if used worldwide, could save about 500,000 children each year. Hopefully, with continued post-marketing studies by Merck and the CDC, they will find that the association is just a coincidence and we can continue to protect our kids against rotavirus. Until then, RotaTeq is still available, just understand that intussusception is a possible complication of getting this vaccine...
Is there any new information since your blog in feb-07.
Is there a voluntary reporting of these intussusception events or is there a mandatory requirement?
Thanks for your reply.
oct 07
Whilst there was a possible association between the ROTASHIELD Vaccine and Intusseption there is, to date, NO association between ROTA TEQ and Intusseption.
The Rota Teq vaccine is a Human-Bovine Rotavirus reassortment.
The Rotashield vaccine was a Human-rehesus vaccine, a rhesus rotavirus tetravalent vaccine.
This article is misleading….Rotavirus vaccination would not “save 500,000″. Only 20-40 die of the illness…approx. 500,000 get sick. My daughter got intussusception days after getting the vaccination in 2008. We reported this association to the CDC, as reporting is voluntary, which makes me believe the numbers are way underreported. I will not give another one of my children the vaccination.
The 500,000 is indeed misleading, in that in public health class we learned that it is ESTIMATED to result in that many deaths WORLDWIDE. The key words are ‘worldwide” and “estimated.” But it is definitely true that in third world countries death from rotavirus is not uncommon. Now if these manufacturers would just stop killing our kids with the poorly made and poorly tested vaccines.