Rotavirus as a food borne pathogen: a serious global health concern

Abstract

Viral food borne infections are extremely hazardous and often overlooked when instating food safety guidelines. Rotavirus is one of the most common and most deadly food borne viral pathogens. It threatens the life of literally every single individual born in this world. It is a tri-layered retrovirus that invades the cells of the intestinal epithelia. Rotavirus infects primarily mammals and disease transmission takes place through the fecal-oral route. All children under the age of 5 are at risk of contraction and fatality. The infection is primarily manifested by painful gastroenteritis and profuse diarrhea. Dehydration and septic shock that stems from disease progression is generally the cause of death. The standard diagnostic assay for the pathogen is retro-PCR, and the symptoms are treated with progressive rehydration therapy. The risk of rotavirus contraction is prevalent throughout the globe, although third world countries and particularly the countries of South Asia and Africa endure the heaviest burden of disease. Rotarix and RotaTeq are highly efficacious and globally approved vaccines for rotavirus. In the context of Bangladesh, rotavirus is particularly important because the current rotavirus vaccines are quite expensive for the economy of developing nations, and for unknown reasons, display faltered effectiveness in the population. The development of an indiscriminately effective and affordable rotavirus vaccine for developing nations such as Bangladesh is an avenue for much commercial interest. Keywords: Food Borne Pathogen; Rotavirus; Gastroenteritis; Diarrhea; Bangladesh