A vaccine for 'Delhi Belly'

[Guest guest]

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/08belly.htm

A vaccine for 'Delhi Belly'

March 08, 2004 22:07 IST

Holidaymakers will soon be offered protection against Delhi Belly, the bug

that causes diarrhoea in half of visitors to remote parts of the world,

reports the Independent.

Scientists have developed a vaccine against the condition, also known as

Montezuma's Revenge, which is expected to be on the market within a year, it

said.

Dukoral is an oral vaccine taken in two doses at least a week before

departure and provides up to three months' protection against infection by

enterotoxigenic E.coli, the most common cause of the condition. It also acts

against cholera, which causes profuse wasting diarrhoea. The vaccine could

save between two-thirds and 85 per cent of the 500,000 lives a year lost to

diarrhoea worldwide, the report said.

According to the report, Dukoral has already licensed in Scandinavia,

Canada, New Zealand, and a dozen other countries and has now been

recommended for approval in Europe by the expert committee of the European

Medicines Evaluation Agency.

The risk of getting diarrhoea is, unsurprisingly, lower in Western Europe

and North America with an estimated 7 per cent of travellers affected, than

in developing countries where the risk rises to 20 to 50 per cent. But the

British appear to be the worst affected, said the paper.

A study published in The Lancet showed just over half of all visitors to

Kenya and India fell victim to diarrhoea during their visits with the

British most likely to suffer. Experts said the reason for the difference

was personal hygiene - the failure of British tourists to wash their hands.