Health Information

Rotavirus Infection and Vaccination – Act before the arrival of cold weather

Publish date:2021-11-08

Rotavirus
Rotavirus is a very contagious virus that causes nausea and diarrhoea.  It has a characteristic wheel-like appearance under electron microscopy, hence the name of 輪狀病毒. It is the leading cause of severe infectious diarrhoea in children worldwide.  Before the development of a vaccine, most children had been infected with the virus at least once by age 5.  The virus is present in an infected person’s stool 2 days before symptoms appear and for up to 10 days after symptoms lessen.  The virus spreads easily through hand-to-mouth contact throughout this time, even if the infected persons doesn’t have symptoms.  This is often because a child does not wash his or hands properly or often enough.  It can also be caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water.  The virus may live on surfaces such as doorknobs, toys and other hard objects for a long time.  For this reason, outbreaks can occur in households and child care centres.  

Which children are at risk of rotavirus infection?
Most children get the virus between the ages of 3 months and 35 months.  Infectious are more common in the cooler months of the year, starting in the fall and ending in the spring.  Children are more at risk at these times.  Any child who is around a child sick with rotavirus is at risk.

What are the symptoms of rotavirus infection?
The infection usually starts within two days of exposure to the virus.  Early symptoms are nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, followed by three to eight days of watery diarrhoea.  Fever usually goes away after 1 to 2 days.   Loss of too much water from the body (dehydration) can occur quickly, especially in babies.  Symptoms of dehydration includes: lethargy, sleepiness, irritability, dry mouth, pale or blotchy colour to the skin, sunken eyes, less urine or fewer wet diapers.

Prevention
To reduce the spread of rotavirus, wash hands thoroughly, especially after using the toilet, changing the child’s diaper or helping the child to use the toilet.  But even strict hand washing doesn’t offer any guarantees.  And commonly used alcohol-based hand sanitizers have little effect on rotavirus.  

Rotavirus vaccination to babies is an effective way of preventing rotavirus infection.  The World Health Organization recommends the inclusion of rotavirus vaccination into the national immunization programmes of all regions of the world, in particular, developing countries where deaths among children due to diarrhoeal diseases are high.  

Currently there are two rotavirus vaccines available:
Rotarix is given in 2 doses with the first dose given orally to infants beginning at 6 weeks of age and the second dose after an interval of at least 4 weeks and up to 24 weeks of age.

RotaTeq is given in 3 doses with the first dose given orally starting at 6 to 12 weeks of age, with the subsequent doses administered at 4- to 10-week intervals. The third dose should not be given after 32 weeks of age.  

Both vaccines are considered safe and effective.  Studies show that they prevent thousands of children from developing the infection every year.  However, rarely, they can cause a part of the intestine to fold back on itself (intussusception), resulting in possible intestinal blockage.  

Source: Specialist in Paediatrics, Dr. Young Wan Yin, Betty


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