What is Rotavirus? Rotavirus Symptoms, Causes, & Treatment

What is Rotavirus – viruses are a huge problem for mankind. From the day we are born to our death, we experience a huge number of viruses. Most of these viruses are known to cause common diseases, but sometimes they can cause severe infection and other complications. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States has been suggesting Americans get themselves vaccinated with different vaccines to prevent infection from those viruses. Keeping that in mind, the CDC releases a vaccine chart every year to provide the timeline for receiving those vaccines. 

The date of birth suggests that kids are more vulnerable to developing an infection from different viruses. Rotavirus is one of those viruses which is known to cause infection in kids below the age of 5.

What is Rotavirus?

Rotavirus is a highly contagious virus that is known to cause symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. The virus is known to impact the stomach and intense times in kids below the age of 5.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also suggest a vaccine for Rotavirus to prevent the infection of the highly contagious virus. The treatment of rotavirus might be the only good thing about this virus. 

You might not even require any medicine or medical assistance to recover from the symptoms of the rotavirus. You might treat your kid at home without even any medicine or medical assistance. 

What are the Causes of Rotavirus?

Anyone in the world can get affected by the rotavirus, as per the Centers for Disease control and prevention. The virus is more common in infants, young children, close relatives, and those who work with children.

The United States record around 50,000 to 70,000 cases of rotavirus each year. In recent years, the vaccine for rotavirus has dropped significantly as data points suggest that before the start of the vaccine, every kid below the age of 5 was once affected by the virus.

One of the biggest causes of rotavirus is unhygienic practices. You must be very careful when you are changing the diaper of your infant or helping your kid in the toilet.

The rotavirus will be present in the stool of the affected child for at least two days before the start of the symptoms and up to 10 days after the start of the symptoms.

During that time, you must be very careful and practice high levels of hygiene. People who don’t wash their hands after helping their child in the toilet or touching anyone else are the most vulnerable to developing rotavirus.

Anyone can prevent the infection of rotavirus with basic levels of hygiene. You should always wash your hands after changing the diaper of your kid or helping your kid to the toilet.

Symptoms of Rotavirus

Before the start of the symptoms of rotavirus, there is an incubation period of 2 days when the virus will be present in the stool of the child, but it won’t develop any symptoms at all.

The early signs of rotavirus infection are light fever and vomiting. The major symptoms of the disease will appear after 3 to 7 days of the start of the early signs.

• Low-grade fever
• Vomiting
• Stomach pain 
• diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Dehydration

As you can see, there is a long list of symptoms of rotavirus, and you should be very careful as many of these symptoms are known 2 cause severe complications. 

Fever and diarrhea are two of the biggest culprits to cause severe complications. Dehydration is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to rotavirus and its symptoms. It is more common in kids below the age of 2 as they might not drink enough water or consume any fluids.

• Dry mouth
• Sunken eyes 
• lack of tears
• Cool skin
• Reduced urination

If your kid has developed any of the above-given lists of symptoms, you should be very careful, as these are the most common signs of dehydration. Dehydration is further known to invite several other severe diseases, and you must be very careful.

How to Diagnose Rotavirus?

The symptom of rotavirus or similar to several other diseases. Health experts around the world, including the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, do not suggest anyone to self Diagnose their kids with rotavirus.

Parents should always seek medical professionals whenever they believe their kids are struggling with rotavirus or any other disease. Your healthcare provider will be able to diagnose your kid simply based on the symptoms and physical exam.

Later, your healthcare provider might suggest you go through some tests to analyze the initial physical examination diagnosis.

Rotavirus is a common disease, so you don’t have to worry about anything when it comes to diagnosis or the treatment of the Infection. Your kid will get better within a few days of the start of the treatment.

What is the Treatment for Rotavirus Infection?

Healthcare experts do not have any specific treatment for rotavirus infection. General antibiotics or antivirals are not going to work on the infection of rotavirus, and it usually resolves within 3 to 7 days of the start of the symptoms.

There is also a probability that your kid might get affected by the rotavirus and get better without you even realizing it.

When you first visit your healthcare provider for the treatment of rotavirus infection, your healthcare provider is going to help you prevent dehydration which is one of the biggest concerns of the infection.

If you can prevent dehydration, then the infection will run its course, and your kid will get better within 3 to 7 days of the start of the symptoms.

 Dehydration is one of the biggest causes of severe complications of rotavirus infection. Your healthcare provider will suggest you keep feeding your child with rehydration fluids regularly to prevent the condition. Regular voters over other liquids might not be able to replace the minerals lost in the dehydration process. That is why you should always focus on rehydration fluids, including Enfalyte.

Home Remedies for Rotavirus

As your healthcare provider will suggest that you focus on lifestyle and home remedies, we need to discuss it before we move to prevention and Wrap up our session.

Nobody can ignore the importance of the replacement of fluids when it comes to treating your kid struggling with the rotavirus. Even during the short span of symptoms, rotavirus can cause severe complications with the help of dehydration.

The second thing you can do in home remedies for the treatment of Rotavirus is to ask your child to rest as much as possible. The infection might cause dehydration and severe diarrhea, which can further trigger symptoms like restlessness.

You need to encourage rest when your kid is not feeling good. At the same time, you should not encourage your kids to focus on foods that contain high levels of sugar.

Always focus on food items such as whole grain bread, crackers, limit, yogurt, vegetables, and fruits.

Kindly do not encourage soda, apple juice, or dairy products when your kid is already struggling with diarrhea, as these products are going to make diarrhea worse.

How to Prevent Rotavirus Infection?

Before we completely wrap up our session, let’s take a quick look at some preventive Measures you can use to prevent the infection of rotavirus in the first place. 

The best thing you can do to prevent rotavirus infection is to wash your hands regularly. Every infant requires full attention, and it is possible that you might not wash your hands regularly whenever you are handling an infant on your own.

Low levels of hygiene or not following any hygiene routine are one of the biggest culprits of the spread of rotavirus. 

Another thing you can do to prevent the infection of rotavirus is to get your kid vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend a vaccine for rotavirus for every child, and that vaccine is known to provide great protection against infection and protection against severe complications.

There are two different vaccines for rotavirus. You can consult it with your healthcare provider and get your kid the best vaccine possible.