Scientists have recorded a slight decrease in the incidence of type 1 diabetes in Australia since the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine. This is reported by the country's epidemiologists in the scientific journal JAMA. Preventive administration of a new vaccine will help reduce the likelihood of diabetes by 15%, according to scientists.
How common is type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is a disease in which the immune system attacks its own pancreatic cells. Viral infections are one of the possible causes of sugar disease. The immune system is thought to produce antibodies against virus components that are similar to body cells.
In Russia, about 350,000 people suffer from type 1 diabetes, 30,000 of whom are under the age of 19.
Every year, approximately 2 out of every 10,000 children develop diabetes.
The disease begins in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood. Type 1 diabetes is also called juvenile diabetes.
Left untreated, type 1 diabetes quickly causes problems. A sharp increase in blood sugar causes typical symptoms - thirst, frequent urination and extreme fatigue. These symptoms quickly disappear with the introduction of insulin. Diabetic coma is extremely rare today.
There are no causative methods for the treatment or prevention of type 1 diabetes.
Experimental tools undergo clinical research. One of these drugs is a new rotavirus vaccine.
Does a vaccine protect children from diabetes?
Rotavirus vaccination helps reduce the incidence of type 1 diabetes in children. Previous studies have failed to confirm this hypothesis for Finland. This country has the largest number of type 1 diabetes patients worldwide.
Kirsten Perret of the Research Institute in Melbourne analyzed Australia's child health data. The vaccination rate in this country is 84%. The analysis is based on 16,159 new cases of type 1 diabetes between 2000 and 2015.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that after 2007 the number of new cases of type 1 diabetes has actually decreased. In the 4-year period, the indicator decreased by 14%. The results confirm the hypothesis that rotavirus infection could cause an autoimmune disease.
Since very few children are sick in infancy, the effect on the total number of diseases in type 1 diabetes should remain low.
It is also possible that the effect will disappear in a few years.
New rotavirus vaccine can be given even to newborns
A new rotavirus vaccine can be given a few days after birth.
The World Health Organization estimates that in 2013, 215,000 children worldwide died from rotavirus diarrhea.
Most deaths can be prevented with vaccination. However, about 90 million children do not have access to current vaccines.
The first dose of the new RV3-BB vaccine can be given in the first few days after birth.
The new RV3-BB vaccine is live. It is derived from a strain that was discovered in Australia at the end of the 1970s in stool samples in children.
In recent years, the safety of RV3-BB for newborns and infants has been proven in clinical studies. Indonesia is one of the countries that does not currently offer rotavirus vaccine.
Scientists at a research institute in Melbourne report vaccine efficacy in 75% of cases. In the infant group, this indicator was 51% (from 7 to 76%). In a more rigorous analysis, similar results were found.
Children who received the first dose immediately after birth were better protected against rotavirus diseases and type 1 diabetes. Invagination (bowel obstruction), which led to the abolition of the first vaccine, did not occur. The only intussusception occurred 114 days after the administration of the third dose of the vaccine in the infant group.
Once approved by the World Health Organization, the vaccine will be manufactured and offered at a cheaper price by the company. New studies are aimed at identifying the main mechanisms of action of the vaccine that will help in the fight against diabetes.
