Natural Rotavirus Infection Does Not Always Protect Against Reinfection

The development of rotavirus vaccines was stimulated by observations that naturally occurring rotavirus infection confers resistance to — and decreases the severity of — subsequent infection. Rotarix and RotaTeq have been very effective in developed countries but less so in developing ones. To predict how well these vaccines might perform in India, where oral vaccines have generally shown low efficacy and rotavirus-related mortality is particularly high, researchers examined the protective effect of naturally occurring rotavirus infection.

A total of 373 children from three slums in Vellore, India, were followed from birth through the third year of life. Researchers visited the children's homes twice weekly and obtained surveillance stool sa…