Possible link between rotavirus vaccine and decline in type 1 diabetes

A drop in the number of young children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes could be associated with the introduction of routine rotavirus vaccination of Australian infants, according to a new study by Melbourne researchers. The researchers investigated the number of Australian children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes from 2000 to 2015 and found that type 1 diabetes diagnoses in children aged 0-4 years declined from 2007—the year that rotavirus vaccine was introduced as a routine infant vaccination.
This is the first time the rate of type 1 diabetes in young children in Australia has fallen since the 1980s. While not conclusively linking the rotavirus vaccine with protection against type 1 diabetes, the discovery builds on earlier research suggesting natural rotavirus infection may be a risk factor for type 1 diabetes. The study, a collaboration led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute clinician scientists, was published in JAMA Pediatrics today.