Experience of Vaccination against Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in the Sverdlovsk Region

Relevance. Rotavirus infection (RVI) is a widespread disease with a high intensity of the epidemic process and variability of its manifestations from sporadic cases of diseases to large outbreaks. At the present stage, RVI remains one of the urgent problems for practical health care, and vaccination is still the only and most effective method of monitoring RVI. To date, the practice has accumulated a great experience of vaccination against RVI, confirmed its high clinical and immunological efficacy. However, in the Sverdlovsk region, no studies have been conducted to assess the epidemiological effectiveness of vaccination against RVI. Goal. To assess the effectiveness and safety of vaccine prophylaxis for rotavirus infection and its impact on the epidemic process of acute intestinal infections in the framework of the regional program of vaccine prevention of RVI in the Sverdlovsk region. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in 2015. Vaccination first year of life children of the against RVI was carried out with live oral pentavalent vaccine (PEPV) in 4 municipalities of the Sverdlovsk region, in which the incidence of RVI exceeded the average regional indices. A special questionnaire was developed to assess the data on vaccination against RVI, which included information on the gender characteristics of the vaccinated, their age, the presence of episodes of acute intestinal infections before, during and after vaccination, combinations of the vaccine against RVI with the introduction of other immunobiological drugs, reactions to Inoculations. A total of 785 questionnaires from medical organizations of 4 cities of the Sverdlovsk region were analyzed. Results. In the «risk territories» 27.3 to 47.0% children from the first year of life were 3 times vaccinated. After the immunization in all territories was a decrease incidences of rotavirus infection, as well as a decrease in the cumulative percentage of infection with RVI in the age group of children under the 1 age. Children vaccinated against RVI had no cases of rotavirus infection, as well as hospitalizations for acute intestinal infections of other etiology, during the entire follow-up period. Conclusions. The data obtained indicate that vaccination against RVI is an effective tool for controlling morbidity. The optimal age for the initiation of immunization against RVI is 2 months of the child's life (8 weeks), which allows to take into account the minimum and maximum terms of vaccine introduction, actively combine vaccinations against RVI with the introduction of other immunobiological drugs of the National schedule of preventive vaccinations and timely complete the vaccination against RVI to 32 weeks of a child's life.