A vaccine against diabetes? We might have had it for a while



[ad_1]

While some people are trying to scare the world about the possible side effects of vaccines, scientists are studying them. Indeed, researchers have discovered that rotavirus vaccines really have an unexpected effect, but it's good. Vaccinated children are three times less likely to develop type I diabetes.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of diarrhea in young children – uncomfortable for everyone and responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in places without first-rate medical systems. In response, two vaccines are now widely used, one targeting the most common strain, while a more expensive version prevents five strains.

A recent study found an intriguing decrease in type 1 diabetes in Australia after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine. Dr. Mary Rogers of the University of Michigan decided to see if this was more than a coincidence. Fearing that her findings would be affected by small samples, she used the anonymized medical records of 1.47 million American children born since 2001. More than half a million of them had received the complete treatment of one or the other of the rotavirus vaccines.

In Scientific Reports, Rogers announces that children who received the full vaccination schedule were 41% less likely to develop type 1 diabetes during the study period, with a greater reduction for those who received the pentavalent version. Those who had been partially vaccinated had a similar rate to those who had not been vaccinated at all, but the smaller sample size makes the findings tentative.

During the study period, most children immunized against rotavirus also received other vaccines, usually at about the same time. Rogers used comparisons with slightly older children, who had received the rest of the list before rotavirus vaccines were available, to confirm that it was the new addition that made the difference.

The effect was significantly larger among children born between 2012 and 2016 than among those born before 2011. It is not known if this is due to the fact that the vaccine has been improved, or if, in some cases, it has delayed rather than completely diabetes.

Rogers also examined the effectiveness of the vaccine for its original purpose. The hospitalization rate for rotavirus infections was surprisingly 94% lower in vaccinated children than in unvaccinated children.

As for any other side effect; Vaccinated children were 31% less likely to require hospitalization for any reason within 60 days of oral vaccination.

As related as diabetes and rotaviruses may be, the virus can infect the pancreas and there is evidence that it leaves a legacy of damaged β cells. However, the researchers cautioned that they can not show a single cause-and-effect relationship between rotavirus vaccines and the risk of type I diabetes.

"It's an unusual condition, so you need a lot of data to identify trends within a population," Rogers said in a statement. "It will take more time and analysis to confirm these findings, but we are seeing a decrease in type 1 diabetes in young children after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine."

The researchers suggest that simply adhering to existing fire recommendations would significantly reduce the burden of chronic disease.

[ad_2]

Source link