(Dec 6) IN September, one Singapore family was thrown into disarray when one after another came down with an infection.

They had bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea before recovering.

Ms Nora Shikin's ordeal started when her son Shafiq Danial vomited and had diarrhoea.

Now that her family is healthy again, Ms Nora Shikin has promised herself and her soon-to-be born child one thing.

That's a vaccination against the rotavirus that caused the infection and the distress. The vaccine was approved in June.

Her ordeal started with her three-year-old son, Shafiq Danial Sabarodin, being warded for two nights at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) for asthma.

When he was discharged, he seemed perfectly fine. They did not know their drama was about to begin.

Later that same day, the little boy started vomiting and having diarrhoea.

'It was frightening watching him vomit and having diarrhoea continuously eight or nine times in a row,' said Ms Nora, 25.

She and her husband rushed him back to hospital where he was put on a drip to prevent dehydration.

'We took turns to look after him. The doctors told us it was a rotavirus infection,' said Ms Nora, a nurse.

Then, her husband got sick. He started to throw up and also had diarrhoea.

'He was weak, he could not do anything. I left my son, who was by then getting better, to my maid and looked after my husband myself,' said Ms Nora.

Her husband, who declined to be named, also could not work for four days and was on medical leave.

FELL SICK

Then, Ms Nora herself fell ill.

She lost her appetite, could not eat, was throwing up and having diarrhoea. She was worried for her unborn child as she was seven months pregnant at the time.

In Singapore, acute infection of the digestive tract (gastroenteritis) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder in children and the rotavirus is the most common viral agent.

Rotavirus gastroenteritis causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and fever in infants and young children.

Each year, about 600 children are seen in KKH for treatment of rotavirus infection.

In June this year, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) approved Rotateq - the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US to prevent severe rotavirus infection.

This was confirmed by a HSA spokesman.

According to a spokesman for Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD), which manufactures Rotateq, HSA's approval of Rotateq is based on data from clinical trials of more than 70,000 infants.

Among infants observed in the trials, Rotateq prevented 98 per cent of severe cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Clinical trials also show that the vaccination will be effective for two years.

Said an MSD spokesman: 'The vaccine is for infants between the ages of six and 32 weeks old. This is considered the most critical period when they are most susceptible to the virus.'

A three-dose regimen costs about $210.

Said Ms Nora: 'Watching my three-year-son go through it was bad. It will be even worse if my new baby gets it.

'So I think it will be money well spent to prevent what we went through from happening again.'

The other HSA-approved vaccine available in Singapore is Rotarix by GlaxoSmithKline.