Rotavirus Vaccine Linked to Bowel Disorder

June 15, 2011

A vaccine that prevents the most common cause of severe diarrhea and dehydration in babies was associated with a potentially life-threatening bowel disorder in a large study from Mexico and Brazil, but the risk was small.

Investigators with the CDC and health agencies in Latin America concluded that between 1 in 51,000 and 1 in 68,000 vaccinated babies given the rotavirus vaccine Rotarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, could be expected to develop intussusception, a condition in which part of the intestine slides into another part of the intestine, like parts of a telescope.

Another rotavirus vaccine, Wyeth Lab’s RotaShield, was withdrawn from the market in the U.S. in 1999 less than a year after its introduction. At the time, the FDA determined that the vaccine caused intussusception in 1 in 10,000 babies who got it.

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