What is the treatment for rotavirus infection?

Most children do not require treatment for this common infection. They may need extra rest and fluids to prevent dehydration and if the case is severe intravenous re-hydration may be necessary. In developing countries where sanitation and medical facilities are lacking the disease can be fatal.  In Australia, it is estimated that there are around 10,000 hospitalisations and one death annually in children usually under two years old from rotavirus. Hospitalisation rates are five times greater in Indigenous Australians compared with non-Indigenous children.

 Co-author along with Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D, of The Vaccine Friendly Plan, paediatrician Dr Paul Thomas has an opinion on Rotavirus vaccines.

In America the vast majority of rotavirus infections will be mild. When vomiting and diarrhoea are severe, anti-nausea drugs exist to treat the problem. My experience indicates that the rotavirus vaccine is unnecessary as long as families practice good hygiene, drink clean water and have access to health care if a child gets dehydrated and needs IV fluids…But the rotavirus vaccine is unnecessary for American babies. There is no reason to give it. Take a pass on the rotavirus vaccine. Anti-diarrhoea medications aren’t recommended for a rotavirus infection.

Australian babies do not need these vaccines either. Australia has excellent standards of hygiene, sanitation and medical care.

Nevertheless there are two rotavirus vaccines currently available in Australia:

Rotarix manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck’s RotaTeq.

The Rotavirus live attenuated vaccine Rotarix  is given to Australian babies at 2 months and again at 4 months.

Are Rotavirus vaccines safe?

The first rotavirus vaccine RotaShield which was licensed only in the United States was discontinued in 1999 after 15 infants who received the vaccine developed intussusception (a type of bowel obstruction that occurs when the bowel folds in on itself). According to Dr Paul Thomas, both RotaTeq and Rotarix which are used by 77 countries worldwide may also cause intussusception. He reports that this bowel disorder was very rare before the introduction of rotavirus vaccines but since their use the rates of this disorder have increased. Statistics from his own practice reveal that children who received the rotavirus vaccine were four times more likely to suffer gastroenteritis than those who were not vaccinated against the disease.

So why are these vaccines given?

The author of Follow the money describes the Revolving Door/Conflict of Interest

CBS reported on the conflicts of interest in the vaccine industry and found that the vaccine industry give millions to the Academy of Paediatrics for conferences, grants and medical education classes. Wyeth, the manufacturer of the pneumococcal vaccine gave the Academy $342,000 for a community grant program. Vaccine manufacturer Merck gave the Academy of Paediatrics $433,000 the same year the academy endorsed Merck’s HPV vaccine.

Vaccine industry insider

Professor of Paediatrics and director of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr Paul Offit is the inventor of RotaTeq, which is now recommended for children worldwide. He holds the patent on the vaccine that he co-invented. Considered a ‘vaccine industry insider’ Offit is well-known for saying that ‘babies can theoretically tolerate 10,000 vaccines at once’.

Now there’s another rotavirus waiting in the wings. This time it’s a vaccine to be given to babies shortly after birth. Babies are already given the hepatitis B at birth. Do we really have any right to subject newborns to another vaccine?

In a world-first clinical trial the new rotavirus vaccine RV3-BB which was developed at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute – was given to hundreds of babies in Indonesia just days after being born. The trial was financially supported by among others Bill and Melinda Gates. The Gates’ enthusiasm for all matters vaccine is well-known. In Everything you need to know about Bill Gates, vaccine safety & his relationship with big pharma, Robert. F. Kennedy Junior has written:

In a widely cited 2014 blog post on the “miracle of vaccines,” Gates expressed enthusiasm about the “inspiring” data on vaccines and the “fantastic” and “phenomenal” progress being made to expand vaccine coverage.

However as Kennedy explains Gates neglects the history of infectious disease. Kennedy cites the example of scarlet fever for which there was no vaccine and which had become rare by the 1950s. Kennedy quotes U.S. mortality data from 1900–1973:

“Medical measures [such as vaccines] contributed little to the overall decline in mortality in the United States since about 1900—having in many instances been introduced several decades after a marked decline had already set in.”