Rotavirus

Children and infants get infected with many infectious diseases, such as rotavirus infection, and it isn’t a serious infection in general, and, in most cases, it heals easily and without complications.

Rotavirus

Rotavirus causes a gastrointestinal infection that leads to gastroenteritis, and that, in turn, causes severe diarrhea and vomiting.

Rotavirus often affects children younger than 3 years old, and it might also affect adults, but the symptoms are usually milder for them.

Causes of rotavirus infection

• Rotavirus appears in the stool a few days before the manifestation of the symptoms and stays there up to 10 days after they stop. The infection of rotavirus easily transmits through unclean hand-to-mouth contact.
• Rotavirus usually transmits after the hands get contaminated with the patient’s stool after using the toilet, for example, or changing the child’s diaper and not washing the hands well after that.

Symptoms of rotavirus infection

The most significant symptom of rotavirus is severe watery diarrhea, and it also causes:

• Vomiting.
• Loss of appetite.
• Fever.
• Abdominal pain.
• In case the patient didn’t get enough fluid, diarrhea and vomiting might cause dehydration, which is a serious condition.

Diagnosis of rotavirus infection

• Physical examination.
• Sometimes, a stool sample.

Treatment of rotavirus infection

• There isn’t a specific treatment for rotavirus, and the condition usually wears away on its own with attention to fluid replacement.
• Rotavirus can be prevented by practicing good hygiene and vaccines.