印度开发出廉价轮状病毒疫苗

　　在美国，轮状病毒是公共健康领域的一个麻烦事：这种病毒每年能够导致数万名婴儿和儿童因严重腹泻而入院治疗，不过鲜有死亡病例。在印度，轮状病毒却是公共健康的一大威胁：每年超过10万人死于该病毒。如今，一种新的疫苗能够极大减少死亡人数。

　　在近日召开的新闻发布会上，印度生物技术部部长K. Vijayraghavan宣布，印度本土开发和生产的主要应对在该国肆虐的轮状病毒菌株的疫苗在3期临床试验中取得积极数据，数据显示新疫苗具有“出色的安全性和有效性”。印度—美国疫苗行动计划的首个成果ROTAVAC预计能够在2014年上半年投放市场。但是，一些专家警告称，该疫苗不可能是万能药。“一种针对单一轮状病毒菌株的疫苗不太可能为印度所有的儿童提供免疫保护，而且轮状病毒出现了如此多的遗传变异。”新德里圣斯蒂芬医院儿科医生Jacob Puliyel提到。

　　轮状病毒很容易通过受污染的食物和水传播，每年有近2000万名印度儿童被感染。这种病毒能够引起严重腹泻，时常伴随着呕吐和发烧症状，由于没有得到治疗或治疗不恰当，患病儿童可能因脱水而死亡。

　　1985年，印度开始寄希望于研发本土疫苗对抗轮状病毒，当时供职于全印度医学科学研究所的疫苗专家Maharaj Kishan Bhan识别出一种不致病的轮状病毒菌株。13年后，研发疫苗的势头开始加大，印度—美国疫苗行动计划选择了一家成立不久的制药公司开发和生产疫苗。自那时起，印度政府和外国合作伙伴向该项目投入了近1亿美元。

　　在3期临床试验中，4532名新生儿使用了ROTAVAC。与对照组比较发现，第1年里，该疫苗使严重腹泻病例减少56%。“这一成功试验意味着‘印度科学界的重大胜利’。”美国国家过敏症和传染病研究所所长Anthony S. Fauci在一份声明中提到。ROTAVAC的价格预计为每剂1美元，仅为印度市场上西方制造的疫苗价格的1/40。

原文阅读：Rotavirus Vaccine Ready for Rollout in India
NEW DELHI—In the United States, rotavirus is a public health nuisance, resulting in tens of thousands of hospitalizations for severe diarrhea in infants and young children each a year, but few deaths. In India, the virus is a public health menace: It claims more than 100,000 lives a year. A new vaccine could sharply reduce that death toll.
At a press conference here today, K. Vijayraghavan, secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, announced that a vaccine against the predominant rotavirus strain circulating in India had compiled an "excellent safety and efficacy profile" in phase III clinical trials. ROTAVAC, the first fruits of the Indo-U.S. Vaccine Action Program, is expected to be on the market in early 2014. But some experts caution that the vaccine will not be a panacea. "It is unlikely that a single Indian strain of the virus will provide immunity to children all over India, since there is so much genetic variation in the rotavirus," says Jacob Puliyel, a pediatrician at St. Stephen's Hospital in New Delhi.
Rotavirus spreads easily through contaminated food and water; some 20 million children in India are infected every year. The virus causes severe diarrhea, often accompanied by vomiting and fever; most deaths are from dehydration in children who are not given treatment or inadequately treated by India's frail health care system...