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Rotavirus

What You Should Know

By Julia Rosien

Have you ever heard of rotavirus? Maybe not. Have your children ever had it? Probably so. As the most common cause of diarrhea and dehydration in infants, it affects almost all children before kindergarten age. Globally, rotavirus kills more children than any other disease or accident. In the United States, despite proper health care and clean water, it accounts for 500,000 physician visits, 50,000 hospitalizations and 20 deaths each year.

Rotavirus is a common virus that causes a form of gastroenteritis in young children. Starting with fever and vomiting, mild to severe diarrhea soon follows, lasting three to nine days. "Rotavirus peaks each year from November to May, beginning in the southwest and spreading to the northeast," says Dr. David Fay, an associate professor of family medicine at George Washington University in Washington D.C. and a family practitioner.

Rotavirus transfers from child to child by touch, living on hard surfaces such as toys or counter tops for short periods. Often a child touches a contaminated surface, touches his mouth and then ingests the germs. "The incubation period for rotavirus is two to four days," says Dr. Fay. Daycare centers and preschool groups pose high risks to young children during the rotavirus season because it's hard to discern when a child is contagious.

Lynn Smith's son began vomiting, but it wasn't until the mom of a child she babysat called that she panicked. "Her son was in the hospital with rotavirus," she says. Smith called the pediatrician immediately, and within two hours her son, too, was hospitalized. "The nurses wouldn't come in without masks, and they put a red container in the room for contaminated trash." Billions of rotavirus particles are passed in the bowel movements of someone who is infected, and hospital staffs take no chances in passing the virus to other patients.

Want to see more?

• Tell us at the Play Date Issues Discussion Board.
• What foods can cause a child to be constipated?
• When a child has diarrhea, are there any foods you should not give them?
• Foodborne Illness: What You Should Know

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