Rotavirus, the most common diarrheal pathogen in children worldwide, causes approximately one third of diarrhea-associated hospitalizations and 800,000 deaths per year. Because natural infection reduces the incidence and severity of subsequent episodes, rotavirus diarrhea might be controlled through vaccination. Serotypespecific immunity may play a role in protection from disease. Tetravalent rhesus-human reassortant rotavirus vaccine (RRV-TV) (which contains a rhesus rotavirus with serotype G3 specificity and reassortant rhesus-human rotaviruses with G1, G2, and G4 specificity) provides coverage against the four common serotypes of human rotavirus. In clinical trials in industrialized countries, RRV-TV conferred 49% to 68% protection against any rotavirus diarrhea and 61% to 100% protection against severe disease. This vaccine was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on August 31, 1998, and should be cost-effective in reducing diarrheal diseases in industrialized countries. The vaccine's efficacy and cost-effectiveness in developing countries should be evaluated.

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Emerging Infectious Diseases