Bovine Milk Formulation as Alternative to Oral Rotavirus Vaccine
Remember the rotavirus vaccine? The one pulled off the market due to increased risk of intussusception (in some cases fatal…). Interestingly, this article reviews the use of bovine colostrum as a potential new drug application. Colostrum has been used in the natural health field for many years without any modification needed for the patent. Colostrum works by providing the infant with pre-formed antibodies against specific diseases–the same way a nursing mother does with her newborn. Instead of searching hard for a way to modify colostrum and make it work, why not spend money to further investigate the ability of probiotics to reduce the severity and duration of rotavirus infections? I would firmly believe that maintaining a healthy (and territorial) normal flora will do a nice job at reducing the risk of rotavirus infection without side effects (let alone deaths!).
(article) In the wake of recent concerns about complications with the oral rotavirus vaccine, an Australian company has developed a bovine milk formulation that achieves passive immunity. In two studies presented Monday at the Fourth Annual Conference on Vaccine Research, Dr. Janina Pacyna, from NorthField Laboratories in North Adelaide, South Australia, and colleagues assessed the immune-related effects of hyperimmune bovine colostrum containing antirotavirus antibodies (HBC-R). In the first study, 742 children from 22 childcare centers were randomized to receive HBC-R, whole milk, or neither product, three times daily for 20 weeks. The researchers found that the incidence of rotavirus-associated diarrhea was significantly lower in the HBC-R group than in the other groups. In the second study, the investigators assessed rotavirus antibody activity in fecal samples from children given different doses and formulations of HBC-R. Eighty-six percent of samples from children given HBC-R showed antibody activity. In addition, there was a strong direct association between the amount of antibody ingested and the level of antibody activity.