Rotavirus infections

In 1976, John Rohde, highlighting the importance of diarrhea as prime kille r of children in the developing world, beckoned the scientific community to "take science where the diarrhea is". The World Health Organization estima tes that one billion diarrheal episodes occur in infants annually resulting in 1.3 million deaths, making diarrheal disease a major contributor to inf ant mortality in developing world (Bern ct al.. 1992). The need fur simple, effective and inexpensive intervention to treat diarrhea and to prevent it s occurrence is urgent and abundantly clear. Among the etiological agents o f acute infectious diarrhea rotaviruses account for nearly 25% of hospital admissions in India with vomitting and diarrhea followed by severe dehydrat ion in very young children below 2 years of age (Broor ct al.. 1985). Tn de veloping countries, it has been estimated that more than 870,000 children d ie from rotavirus infection every year (Perez-Schael, 1996). The discovery of rotavirus by Bishop and colleagues in 1973 initiated a line of research that has progressed rapidly towards the goal of prevention of rotavirus dia rrhea (Bishop ct al., 1973).