Rotavirus, the enemy of children

During the first years of life, it is very common for children and infants to suffer episodes of gastroenteritis. The small ones are a perfect target for bacteria and viruses, since their immune systems are less developed than those of adolescents or adults, and some disorders that they suffer can be serious if they are not treated properly.

Rotavirus, which causes acute diarrheal disease, is a common virus in children between 1 and 5 years old around the world. When a child suffers from gastroenteritis, it is important to know the cause to act quickly, especially if the agent that triggers it is rotavirus, a pathogen that affects 95 percent of children up to 5 years old and that is very easy to transmit between minors and even adults.


Although rotavirus mortality is very small in industrialized countries, it generates a significant economic burden on health systems.

What is rotavirus?

Rotavirus is an infectious virus that generates severe diarrheal pathology, mainly in winter and spring, that is, between November and April. When a child is infected, it takes two days to develop the disease. Once the symptoms begin, they can last between three and eight days.

Main symptoms that rotavirus causes in children

- Frequent nausea or vomiting
- Profuse liquid diarrhea
- Fever
- Dehydration, especially in infants. This can be detected if the child has a dry mouth, tears do not come out with the crying, does not pee or wet the diaper for several hours, is dizzy when standing, has sunken eyes or has a soft area in the part superior of the head (fontanelle).


How to prevent rotavirus?

To prevent children from becoming infected, it is advisable to:

- Hygiene: to wash their hands continuously, to take good hygiene at home and of the objects that children touch.

- Contacts: avoid that the little ones go to school if they are sick.

- Food: Do not cook well in advance of the intake and handle the food properly. It is advisable to thoroughly wash raw fruits and vegetables, to cook meat and eggs very well. You also have to make sure that the water you drink is safe.

- Supplements: administer probiotics

- Breastfeeding: For small children, a good protective shield is to maintain breastfeeding for at least the first year of life.

When to go to the doctor?

The child should be taken to the doctor when the parents detect some of these symptoms:


- too frequent bowel movements
- many vomiting
- presents poor general condition
- the child is down, sad and unappetizing.

How is rotavirus treated in children?

Generally, an infectious gastroenteritis heals naturally in a few days, when the pathogen is eliminated through bowel movements and vomiting, but to help speed up this process and the consequences are not serious, we recommend:

- Proper hydration, in small quantities so that they do not induce vomiting. Dehydration can be avoided by preparations rich in salts and sugar, both those sold in pharmacies and those that can be prepared in the home.

- Offer food, but without forcing and always foods without fat.

Vaccination, recommended but not mandatory in Spain

The World Health Organization recommends that the rotavirus vaccine for infants to be included in national immunization programs. Although it is not in the Spanish pediatric vaccination calendar, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics AEP considers it among the recommended vaccines, that is, those that all children should receive but that are less necessary than others and that their public financing can be a problem economic.

It is estimated that before the introduction of the vaccine against this virus in Spain as an option for parents, there were more than 180,000 episodes of acute gastroenteritis per year in children under 5 years of age, with more than 14,000 hospitalizations, 40,000 visits to the emergency room and 48,000 to primary care services.

Dr. Paloma Nacher. Neonatologist at the Hospital La Milagrosa in Madrid

Video: The Rotavirus Vaccine Saved 28,000 Children's Lives in 2016 - We Could Have Saved 83,000 More


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