Japanese researchers led by Yoshikazu Yuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo, have developed a type of rice that produces an antibody capable of fighting rotavirus, which causes a large proportion of gastroenteritis cases in newborns and young children.
More than 114 million cases of diarrhea each year are caused by rotavirus, which claims the lives of around 600,000 children annually. In a country like the United States, rotavirus is responsible for 60,000 children being hospitalized each year.
Existing vaccines against this problem are effective in up to 85% of cases in developed countries, but only 40% effective in sub-Saharan Africa.
Various public campaigns have been carried out to combat rotavirus, providing oral rehydration therapy to infected children and vaccinations to prevent the disease.
Studies on this newly discovered rice have been published in the scientific journal Journal of Clinical Investigation and represent a major breakthrough in pediatric medicine.
