Malcolm Gladwell

or rather, the very strange campaign waged against Rodotech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the man in charge of every aspect of health, medicine, and research in the United States. If you are the parent of small children in the developed world in the 21st century, Diarrhea is not high on your list of things you worry about.

or rather, the very strange campaign waged against Rodotech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the man in charge of every aspect of health, medicine, and research in the United States. If you are the parent of small children in the developed world in the 21st century, Diarrhea is not high on your list of things you worry about.

But that was not true of your parents when you were a child. Or your parents' parents. Or anyone else, for that matter, going back as far as human beings go. Particularly those living in the poorest parts of the world. This is what it used to be like.

But that was not true of your parents when you were a child. Or your parents' parents. Or anyone else, for that matter, going back as far as human beings go. Particularly those living in the poorest parts of the world. This is what it used to be like.

This is Vishwajit Kumar, a pediatrician and public health researcher in Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India, remembering his days as an intern in the 1980s.

This is Vishwajit Kumar, a pediatrician and public health researcher in Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India, remembering his days as an intern in the 1980s.

A small child would get sick with the rotavirus. They would run a fever. They would start vomiting. They would develop severe diarrhea as the virus wreaked havoc in their stomach and intestines. That's three sources of dehydration, suddenly and simultaneously. And if the child was far from a hospital and already malnourished, they were in trouble.

A small child would get sick with the rotavirus. They would run a fever. They would start vomiting. They would develop severe diarrhea as the virus wreaked havoc in their stomach and intestines. That's three sources of dehydration, suddenly and simultaneously. And if the child was far from a hospital and already malnourished, they were in trouble.

The best estimates at the time were the children in developing countries had between four and eight episodes of severe diarrhea in their first five years of life, each lasting from two to ten days. For Dr. Kumar, this meant a giant room full of shrunken infants, two and sometimes three to a bed.

The best estimates at the time were the children in developing countries had between four and eight episodes of severe diarrhea in their first five years of life, each lasting from two to ten days. For Dr. Kumar, this meant a giant room full of shrunken infants, two and sometimes three to a bed.

I mean, to lose one, To be a doctor and lose one baby is emotionally overwhelming. You're talking about over the course of working in a ward, you would lose dozens of children over the course of months.

I mean, to lose one, To be a doctor and lose one baby is emotionally overwhelming. You're talking about over the course of working in a ward, you would lose dozens of children over the course of months.

The battle against rotavirus took years. First, the virus itself had to be identified, separated out from all the other pathogens that can cause diarrhea in young children. Then a vaccine had to be constructed from that newly identified virus. Another time-consuming task. One of the leading groups working on the problem was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, at a lab run by Paul Offit.

The battle against rotavirus took years. First, the virus itself had to be identified, separated out from all the other pathogens that can cause diarrhea in young children. Then a vaccine had to be constructed from that newly identified virus. Another time-consuming task. One of the leading groups working on the problem was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, at a lab run by Paul Offit.

2006.

2006.

2006. How long did you work on that? 26 years. Wow. Why was that a hard problem to solve?

2006. How long did you work on that? 26 years. Wow. Why was that a hard problem to solve?

Offit's group took their candidate vaccine to the drug company Merck, which spent well over a billion dollars to bring the candidate vaccine to market. The result was Rototec.

Offit's group took their candidate vaccine to the drug company Merck, which spent well over a billion dollars to bring the candidate vaccine to market. The result was Rototec.