The clinical trial was carried out in four Community Health Centers (Centres de Santé Communautaires, CSCOMs), two in the Daoudabougou Quartier (ASACODA and ADASCO) and two in the Niamakoro Quartier (ASACONIA and ANIASCO), located in Commune VI of Bamako, Mali, between April 2007 and March 2009. The protocol and informed consent form were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculté de Medécine, de Pharmacie et d’Odonto-Stomatologie (FMPOS) of the University of Bamako, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the Western IRB (Olympia, WA, DNA Damage inhibitor USA). A formal authorization was obtained from the Ministry of Health

(MoH) of Mali before approaching the communities, where sensitization was achieved through sequential community meetings

before the first participants were enrolled into the study. At each CSCOM, a community meeting this website was carried out with the CSCOM Executive Committee, local religious, socio-cultural and administrative leaders, traditional healers, modern doctors, school teachers, and local community members. The consent form, translated into Bambara (the most commonly spoken language in Bamako), was available both as a written consent form and on audiotape (for illiterate parents). The investigators explained the study objectives, individual and community benefits and individual risks associated with participating in the study. Participants at these meetings were encouraged to ask questions on any aspect

of the study and answers were provided by the study investigators. Literate parents who decided to enroll their infants into the study did so after reading the Bambara or French version of the consent form and signing the French version. Illiterate parents who agreed for their infants to be enrolled inscribed a witnessed mark on the French written consent form after listening to the audio tape of the consent in Bambara and after having their questions about the study answered. A respected literate community member designated by the community leader and known to the parents served as the impartial literate witness Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase for illiterate parents who inscribed the consent form. Data regarding the symptoms of the acute gastroenteritis episodes were collected by study personnel using a questionnaire when an infant with ≥3 looser-than-normal stools in a 24 h period and/or forceful vomiting was brought by the parent/guardian to the CSCOM. An independent un-blinded Data Safety Monitoring Board that included a Malian expert in pediatrics and clinical trials was established to monitor all adverse events during the trial. Following administration of each dose of vaccine or placebo, every infant was followed prospectively for 2 weeks with household visits on day 7 and on day 14 to detect adverse events.