A randomised trial of oral gammaglobulin in low-birth-weight infants infected with rotavirus.
Oral human gammaglobulin or placebo was given with each feed during the first week of life to 75 low-birth-weight babies. All were in a nursery where rotavirus was known to be endemic, 25 of the babies excreted rotavirus during the first 2 weeks of life. This group was regarded as the "challenge" group. Gammaglobulin administration was associated with delayed excretion of rotavirus and with milder symptoms of infection. Rotavirus-associated diarrhoea necessitating low-lactose feeds developed in 6 of 11 babies given placebo and 1 of 14 babies given gammaglobulin. Oral human gammaglobulin seems to protect low-birth-weight infants from diarrhoea caused by rotavirus.
D000284:Administration, Oral; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000517:prevention & control; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012088:Reoviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005719:gamma-Globulins / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D005719:gamma-Globulins