OLC40P: Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course
Complete the following assignment and submit your work to your teacher.
Read the following and write a summary of the text.
Diarrhea Vaccine in Venezuela
Diarrhea is an illness with diverse effects, which range from psychological to infectious causes. Among infectious causes, the most important of all is the viral diarrhea, especially that one caused by the "Rotavirus". This tiny viral particle, that has a wheel-shape, attacks children between 6 months and 5 years of age, especially those in the first year of life. In undeveloped countries, diarrhea is responsible for many deaths each year. For instance, in Venezuela, viral diarrhea is responsible for more than 800 000 hospitalizations and 2500 deaths a year among children between 6 months and 5 years old. On the other hand, in countries like the US, which reflects other first world countries, diarrhea causes around 2000 hospitalizations and 45 deaths each year.
Since 1976 when the agent of viral diarrhea was identified, many countries and scientists have devoted themselves to the work of developing a vaccine to prevent the infection among children. Although they have been close to success, all their efforts have been in vain so far. Many different vaccines have been tried, and many research papers have been published.
The last vaccine attempted was called "Antirotavirus Tetravalent Vaccine", a vaccine that doesn’t prevent the infection but makes the illness less aggressive. Venezuela was one of the countries along with US and Finland that tried this vaccine promoted by Wyeth-Earth. In one of the biggest efforts in the history of the investigation in Venezuela, the Biomedicine Institute of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas coordinated a field trial in different cities in my country. More than 2000 children were included in this research in Venezuela, and more than 25 000 were included all around the world.
The results of this investigation were satisfactory in Venezuela, as well as in US and Finland. After three doses at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, children showed good antibody levels, and even though it was demonstrated that the vaccine wasn’t effective in preventing the illness, the vaccine was effective in avoiding severe dehydration*, the most common and lethal* complication of viral diarrhea. As a result not only fewer hospitalizations among the children included in the investigation, but also a fall in the number of deaths were reported. Additionally, the secondary effects of vaccine administration weren’t serious in comparison to those shown by other vaccines in the market. Fever, measles, and abdominal pain are among other secondary effects of vaccination. Thus, the food and drug administration (FDA) licensed this vaccine for use in children in US on August 31 st, 1998.
* dehydration = loss of water
* lethal = deadly
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