ROTAVIRUS – A Serious Virus You NEED to Know About

“You have no idea how upsetting it can be when your child does suffer and looks at you as if you need to fix this right away. It was very difficult.” – Tracy, a mom in the United States

An estimated 10 Filipino children die each day from rotavirus gastroenteritis.

What is Rotavirus?

Rotavirus is a common stomach virus that’s very easy to get. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, fever. These can lead to dehydration, loss of body water and electrolytes.

Rotavirus can be caught very easily through simple, everyday contact. It can strike without warning. 527,000 children less than 5 years of age were estimated to die of rotavirus disease each year. In the Philippines alone, rotavirus infection accounts for up to 65.7% of acute diarrhea in infants under 2 years of age. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,698 Filipino infants die of rotavirus gastroenteritis every year.

Rotavirus infection may present as an ordinary upset of the stomach but it may progress to severe vomiting and diarrhea more than 20 times a day. Symptoms may last up to 9 consecutive days.

Babies with severe rotavirus infection may need to be hospitalized for proper monitoring. At the onset, doctors may not be able to predict how severe the rotavirus infection can progress.

How to protect our babies? Keep a clean home and frequent handwashing will help prevent but are not enough to protect our babies from rotavirus infection.

Clean your hands effectively.

Hand soaps and other cleaning products cannot kill the virus. Rotavirus infection easily spreads and can survive for weeks in toys and household surfaces.

What can you do? Ask your doctor about oral vaccination that targets 5 of the most common types of rotavirus that cause 95% of rotavirus infections worldwide.

It is recommended that your baby get the first dose before 3 months of age. It’s important not to put it off.

Don’t wait. Reach out and help protect your baby. Now.