Treatment and Prevention of Human Rotavirus (HRV) in Developing Countries: The Potential of Avian Immunoglobulin Y

Author(s)

Christa BrownFollow

Publication Date

Spring 2016

School

School of Health Sciences

Major

Biology: Biomedical Sciences

Keywords

Human Rotavirus, HRV, Rotavirus, Immunoglobulin Y, IgY, Anti-HRV IgY, Passive Oral Immunotherapy, Adjunct Therapy, Rotavirus Vaccines, Child Mortality, Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals

Disciplines

Digestive System Diseases | Gastroenterology | Infectious Disease | Medical Immunology | Medicine and Health Sciences | Pediatrics | Preventive Medicine | Public Health | Virus Diseases

Recommended Citation

Brown, Christa, "Treatment and Prevention of Human Rotavirus (HRV) in Developing Countries: The Potential of Avian Immunoglobulin Y" (2016). Senior Honors Theses. 616.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/616

Abstract

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a leading cause of childhood mortality, killing ~1400 children younger than five daily, primarily through severe diarrheal dehydration. Eighty-five percent of this mortality occurs in developing countries where rotavirus vaccines are not widely implemented and are only partially effective. In those countries, it has proven difficult to implement the recommended supportive therapies like oral rehydration therapy (ORT) on a wide scale due to lack of both medical infrastructure and private economic investment combined with cultural bias against ORT. IgY targeting human rotavirus (anti-HRV IgY) shows potential as a passive immunotherapy that reduces rotavirus-associated morbidity and mortality, augments vaccine and ORT implementation measures, and, with international and local investment, overcomes the current barriers to rotavirus treatment and prevention.