Gastro vaccine on hold for more funding
An affordable vaccine that could ward off the most common cause of gastroenteritis is a small step closer after researchers received $135,000 in grants.
The enteric viruses team has worked on a rotavirus vaccine since Professor Ruth Bishop, Dr Ian Holmes and colleagues first discovered the virus in 1973 at The Royal Children's Hospital.
Every child comes in contact with rotavirus by their fifth birthday, putting 10,000 Australian youngsters in hospital and killing half a million children worldwide each year. While other commercial vaccines exist, they are expensive and may not be affordable for many developing countries.
The MurdochChildrens team hopes to produce an oral vaccine that would be cheap enough to administer to every child as part of an infant vaccination schedule.
The vaccines is to be developed in collaboration with the Queensland Institute for Medical Research and the Indonesian Government vaccine manufacturer, BioFarma.