According to statistics, 610 thousand children die of rotavirus infection in the world every year , with 5% of children under 5 years old. Let's try to determine the etiology of a disease such as rotavirus, the symptoms of which have their own specifics, but more on that later.
First of all, it should be clarified that this infection is considered viral, and in most cases proceeds in an acute form. Rotavirus affects both children's and adult organisms, however, it is fair to say that adults suffer from this disease much more easily and are not fraught with fatal consequences. For those affected by rotavirus, symptoms are observed from the first days of infection, and such clinical patients are contagious until the end of the manifestation of all the signs, and this can stretch out on an allotment. After, as a rule, recovery occurs, the body adapts, developing a stable immunity to such infections, and re-infection is extremely rare. A characteristic feature of this disease is that adults whose blood contains a low rate of developed antibodies are prone to re-infection.
If you look at how rotavirus proceeds in children, the symptoms will be identical to adult patients. However, you should first find out how the disease is transmitted? The transmission route is predominantly food, that is, you can get infected through infected food, especially for dairy products. It is important to focus on the fact that rotavirus is resistant to aggressive environmental factors, that is, it can persist in the refrigerator, and also can not be affected by chlorination. Such an infection occurs even in holy water. If we talk about the children's body, it must be mentioned that infection occurs in public places (school, kindergarten, nursery) much more often than in the usual home environment. This is the so-called "dirty hands disease." However, these are not all modes of transmission, as infection is possible by airborne droplets. It is important to recall here that a characteristic infection provokes inflammation of the respiratory tract.
If we consider the spread of an infection such as rotavirus, symptoms can occur in a large part of the team immediately. Rotavirus can easily become epidemic-wide and become a good reason for the closure of the institution where it was detected. In addition, the signs of rotavirus are mostly seasonal in nature, and this is not about summer at all, because, as medical practice shows, the number of patients increases rapidly in the autumn-winter period.
What is the dynamics of this pathological process? The pathogen itself penetrates directly into the gastrointestinal mucosa and affects the area of the small intestine. A similar anomaly entails inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, which is called enteritis.
The disease has its incubation period, lasting up to 5 days on average. Rotavirus proceeds, the symptoms of which begin with unexpected vomiting and a rapid jump in temperature, in an acute form. Perhaps a complete disorder of the stool with a predominance of gray-yellow feces. Most patients also have a runny nose, redness, and swelling of the throat. During the period of exacerbation, a sharp breakdown, lethargy, drowsiness is noted, however, it must be clarified that the clinical picture in each case has its own specific differences, which completely depend on the type of infection that has spread and those pathogenic factors that provoked its development.
The treatment is systemic in nature and its goal is to eliminate the effects of infection on the body, in particular, toxicosis, dehydration and dehydration (the doctor will recommend Regidron, Gastrolit, Hydrovit or Dufalac), as well as related anomalies of the cardiac and urinary systems.
In addition, it is better to prevent the infection in a timely manner, and, as you know, rotavirus is “afraid” of boiled water and soap, therefore, the water used must be boiled, and hands should be washed regularly with soap.