Rotavirus vaccine may protect children from developing type 1 diabetes.
In Australia, the vaccine for rotavirus – the most common cause of severe diarrhea in young children – was added to routine early-childhood immunisations in 2007.
Kirsten Perrett at the University of Melbourne in Australia and her colleagues compared the rates of diabetes in the 8 years before and after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine. They found a 14 per cent drop in type 1 diabetes in children age 0 to 4, but no change in children 5 to 14 years old.