Many people first heard the term intussusception after it became associated with Rotashield, the first rotavirus vaccine, back in 1999.
What is Intussusception?
Intussusception is a type of intestinal blockage that occurs when one part of a child’s intestine in pulled into or slides into another.
This leads to younger children, typically between the ages of 3 months and 3 years, developing colicky abdominal pain (severe pain that comes and goes) and loose stools that are filled with blood and mucous.
Fortunately, if caught early, it can be both diagnosed and treated with an air contrast enema.
Do Rotavirus Vaccines Cause Intussusception?
Intussusception in children is not a new condition. In fact, Samuel Mitchel reported treating children with intussusception as early as 1838!
So what causes intussusception?
Surprisingly, in most cases, we just don’t know why kids get intussusception.
We do know that it occurs in about 1 in 100,000 US infants, with about 2,000 cases being diagnosed and treated each year.
“There is also a small risk of intussusception from rotavirus vaccination, usually within a week after the first or second dose. This additional risk is estimated to range from about 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 100,000 US infants who get rotavirus vaccine.”
CDC on Questions & Answers about Intussusception and Rotavirus Vaccine
And we know that getting a rotavirus vaccine adds a small extra risk for intussusception.
The association was found by looking at reports to VAERS and studies by the FDA’s Post-licensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring System (PRISM).
And it is not just the original Rotashield vaccine, which was withdrawn, but the rotavirus vaccines that we now use that have also been linked to intussusception. The difference is that the risk is much less with the newer rotavirus vaccines.
“Given the magnitude of declines in rotavirus disease compared with this small increase in intussusception, the benefits of rotavirus vaccination outweigh the increase risk of intussusception.”
Tate et al on Intussusception Rates Before and After the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccine
This small risk must also be viewed against the many benefits of the rotavirus vaccines.
“Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis among young children worldwide, and was estimated to account for approximately one-third of the estimated 578,000 deaths from childhood gastroenteritis and more than 2 million hospitalizations and 25 million outpatient clinic visits among children <5 years of age each year in the pre-vaccine era.”
Parashar et al on Value of post-licensure data on benefits and risks of vaccination to inform vaccine policy: The example of rotavirus vaccines
It is also still not clear if the rotavirus vaccines actually “trigger” intussusception or if they simply cause it to occur earlier in infants that would have gotten it anyway. That’s because while the latest studies have found excess cases shortly after the first dose of vaccine, studies looking at intussusception trends “have not consistently demonstrated an overall increase in rates post-vaccination.” So there were the same number of total cases, even with the few extra cases right after the kids were vaccinated.
Also, it is thought that wild type rotavirus infections can also trigger intussusception, so the rotavirus vaccines might prevent those cases.
Most importantly though, remember that even if the rotavirus vaccines cause an extra 35 to 100 hospitalizations a year because of intussusception, they are preventing up to 70,000 hospitalizations from severe rotavirus diarrheal disease that occurred in the pre-vaccine era. The vaccines are also preventing about 20-60 deaths from rotavirus disease, while intussusception is rarely life-threatening.
If you are on the fence about vaccines, worry about intussusception is not a good reason to skip or delay your child’s vaccines.
What to Know About Vaccines and Intussusception
Because of a small risk of intussusception, parents should be aware of the symptoms and signs of intussusception and that they may appear six to eight days after an infant’s first dose of rotavirus vaccine.
More on Vaccines and Intussusception
- CDC – Vaccine Information Statement – Rotavirus
- CDC – Q and A about Intussusception and Rotavirus Vaccination
- CDC – Rotavirus in the U.S.
- FDA – PRISM Identifies Vaccine Safety Issues
- Ask the Experts About Rotavirus
- WHO – Statement on risks and benefits of rotavirus vaccines Rotarix and RotaTeq
- Study – Trends in intussusception hospitalizations among US infants, 1993-2004: implications for monitoring the safety of the new rotavirus vaccination program.
- Study – Intussusception Rates Before and After the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccine
- Study – Intussusception After Rotavirus Vaccines Reported to US VAERS, 2006–2012
- Study – Risk of intussusception following rotavirus vaccination: An evidence based meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies
- Study – Intussusception risk after rotavirus vaccination in U.S. infants.
- Study – Intussusception after monovalent rotavirus vaccine-United States, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 2008-2014.
- Study – Value of post-licensure data on benefits and risks of vaccination to inform vaccine policy: The example of rotavirus vaccines
- Study – Rotavirus Vaccine and Intussusception Hospitalizations
- Study – The First Rotavirus Vaccine and the Politics of Acceptable Risk
- Study – Rotavirus Vaccine and Intussusception