Everything a parent may want to know about rotavirus

What’s rotavirus?

Rotavirus is a type of virus that infects the intestinal tracts of under-fives. As per reports prepared by several medical research companies, every three-year-old, by and large, contracts the disease.

The malady can affect children more than once, but the first encounter is the worst. The infection caused by the virus results in children having severe diarrhea and stomach upset.

Rotavirus gets its name from the word rota, which in Latin means wheel. Such a name is because of the fact that the virus resembles a wheel when looked under a microscope.

Babies and young children who’ve contracted the infection have to be monitored closely as they can get dehydrated in no time.

A body gets dehydrated whenever it starts losing water and fluids faster than they can be replaced. A lot of health complications arise as and when a child gets dehydrated.

How the infection spreads?

The virus can easily spread whenever a contact is established with the stool of an infected baby. It’s noted that the virus can spread like a wildfire whenever a lot of efforts are made to keep the place pristine.

Although ironical, but it’s sadly true. While cleaning the place, it’s quite a possibility that the rigorous use of disinfection isn’t done.

If we use water and soap for cleaning the infected child, his/her surrounding and clothing, then protection from the infection won’t be guaranteed.

For instance, when the caregiver changes the messed diapers of an infected child on a changing table, then it’s possible that the germs are left behind.

Whenever an uninfected child sits upon the same changing table, then s/he can get afflicted with the malady.

If not disinfected, then solid surfaces (tables, sinks, etc.) can contain such germs for a lot of days.

Rotavirus infection can spread easily. Locations having many children (such as daycare centers) help in the quick spreading of the infection.

Children get rotavirus infection whenever they start to bite or chew the toys of an infected child; chances are thick that the infected children must have touched their toys with infected hands.

What are the symptoms?

In general, the disease takes close to three days to show its symptoms. Vomiting is, as a rule, the first symptom of the disease. Further, acute diarrhea and fever follow the first symptom.

Many children having rotavirus experience extremely watery stools.  Severe diarrhea that happens in the disease lasts for at least four to eight days. In some cases, diarrhea can often last up till a week.

Rotavirus vaccine (RV)

At present, two types of rotavirus vaccines (Rotarix/RV1 and RotaTeq/RV5) are available.

Many Indian vaccine research companies are dedicated to create the best rotavirus vaccine India. Each RV is administered orally, and it must be given to children when they are:-

• 2 months old
• 4 months old
• 6 months old

RVs are very effective. Most studies that are undertaken by leading vaccine researchers show that RVs have the capacity to prevent 74 percent of infections.

The number of rotavirus cases is expected to plump even further with the developments in the field of vaccine production.