UGM Researchers Develop Rotavirus RV3 Vaccine

JAKARTA – Diarrhea is one of the most common health problems. Not only adults, this disease is also common in infants and children. The reason, eating foods that contain viruses or bacteria.

Quoted from the page ugm.ac.idmortality in children under five worldwide due to diarrhea is still quite high, reaching 9.1%.

Even in Indonesia itself, the mortality rate due to diarrhea is reported at 9.8% in the group of children under one year and is the second most common cause of death.

UGM Professor of Microbiology, Prof. Hera Nirwati said diarrhea had a detrimental impact on child development. Recurrent diarrhea during the growth period causes children to potentially experience obstacles to growth in height, lack of fitness and intelligence that is not optimal.

Therefore, it is very important to remove all distractions in the growth period because numbers are a valuable future asset.

“Rotavirus is a cause of severe diarrhea in children under five in developed and developing countries. Rotavirus is known as a democratic virus because it can infect all children regardless of their socioeconomic status. This is because almost all children have experienced at least one episode of diarrhea when they were five years old,” said Prof. Hera.

Diarrhea in children is usually caused by rotavirus infection. Diarrhea caused by rotavirus infection can cause severe dehydration if not treated immediately.

He said that rotavirus in Indonesia was first reported by Soenarto, who conducted research and collected the feces of children under five with acute gastroenteritis in Yogyakarta.

Until now, rotavirus surveillance in Indonesia has been continuously carried out and shows a high burden of morbidity and mortality due to rotavirus diarrhea.

However, rotavirus diarrhea is a vaccine-preventable disease. Currently available rotavirus vaccines can replicate in the human intestine to elicit an immune response. There are four vaccines prequalified by WHO and available on the market, namely Rotarix, Rotateq, Rotavac, and Rotasiil.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, a rotavirus RV3 vaccine is currently being developed and clinical trials are being conducted by researchers at UGM. In fact, this vaccine has entered phase 3 clinical trials.

“In the near future it is estimated that RV3 can be mass produced by Biofarma and is targeted to be used for immunization for children in Indonesia,” he said.

In the clinical trial of the Rotavirus RV3-BB phase 2b vaccine, said Prof. Hera, a test has been carried out to determine the effect of maternal antibodies to the placenta or breast milk on the effectiveness of the vaccine.

“Apart from that, after being tested it was also found that the rotavirus RV3-BB vaccine can also be given with other vaccines such as the polio vaccine orally,” he explained.

He further emphasized that preventive measures for rotavirus diarrhea by administering vaccines must be carried out immediately. Therefore, the application of the rotavirus vaccine in national immunization is a necessity so that our children are protected.