What is rotavirus?

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and young children. Rotavirus infects and damages the cells of thesmall intestine leading to gastroenteritis – rotavirus is the main cause of severe, dehydrating diarrhoea in young children. Rotavirus is a democratic virus because every child, rich or poor, may be infected in the first few years of life. Even in places with clean water and good sanitation, children can be infected. Almost all children will have been infected with rotavirus by the time they reach 5 years. A study indicated that 86.1% of rotavirus gastroenteritis cases occur in children aged between 3 and 35 months

How is diarrhoea caused by rotavirus different from diarrhoea caused by other infections?

It is often hard to tell the difference as the symptoms are likely to appear the same. However, the symptoms of rotavirus infection are often more severe than other viral and non-specific causes of diarrhoea.9 Symptoms may include:

• vomiting and may last up to 8 days
• severe watery diarrhoea (up to > 10 episodes a day)
• abdominal pain
• fever

Watery diarrhoea & vomiting from rotavirus infection may lead to dehydration (loss of body fluid). Untreated severe dehydration can cause serious health problems such as organ damage, shock, or coma (a sleeplike state in which a person is not conscious)

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