Rotavirus Infection
Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea and vomiting in young children. The diarrhea can be quite relentless (more than twenty watery stools in a day), and it frequently lasts more than a week. Many children become dehydrated from this infection each year, but babies are especially vulnerable. The bodies of infants are small to begin with, and there is not as much water content in the small body compared to older children. Faced with a constant and massive stool loss, their small bodies can become dehydrated in a matter of hours.
As stated earlier, rotavirus infections are almost never fatal in the United States. The effects of dehydration can be reversed quickly with intravenous fluid, and the ready access to hospital care in this country makes death highly unlikely for a typical rotavirus infection. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of babies become hospitalized from this infection each year in the United States, and the duration of each hospitalization can last from just a few days to more than a week. Generally, the frequency of diarrhea must decrease to a reasonable level before the baby is discharged from the hospital.
Essential
Diarrhea caused by rotavirus never contains blood. If your child experiences bloody diarrhea, she may be infected with a bacteria. See your doctor without delay if you find substances that resemble blood in your child's stool.
Symptoms of the Rotavirus Infection
Symptoms of a rotavirus infection include:
Fever
Vomiting
Watery diarrhea (frequent)
Abdominal pain Loss of interest in food
Fact
Due to the frequency and severity of diarrhea, rotavirus infection can cause dehydration but also an imbalance of salts in the body. For this reason, daily blood tests are sometimes necessary to monitor the salt levels in the body. Serious imbalance of salts in the body can cause swelling of the brain, seizure, and even death.
