1. Dr Gaurav Gupta Charak Clinics www.charakclinics.com
Rotavirus – in 4 parts
Dr Gaurav Gupta Charak Clinics
DCH, DNB, MAAP, MIAP

2. What are we talking about ?
A disease that affects ALL children before the age of 5 years
Responsible for 5 % deaths of all children less than 5 years.

3. Rotavirus Virology – Part 1
Rota – means wheel-like in greek
Double-stranded RNA virus

4. Rotavirus – this is how it looks!

6. Are these multiple serotypes important ?
NOT REALLY !
Because Natural RV infection attenuates
severity of subsequent infections, regardless
of serotype

7. Probability of rotavirus infection
Cumulative probability of rotavirus infection in 200 Mexican infants during the 1st 2 years of life
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Probability of rotavirus infection
Age (months)
1st infection
2nd infection
3rd infection
4th infection
5th infection *
*Complete protection against
moderate-to-severe diarrhoea
NEJM 1996; 335: 1022

8. Scary Statistics– Part 2
Diarrhoea is third largest cause of death in under 5
Rotavirus are the single
most important cause of
diarrhoea worldwide.
Annually rotaviruses cause
5% of all deaths in children
527,000 deaths
80% of deaths are in infancy
> 100,000 in India
39% of childhood
hospitalisations for diarrhea
Lancet Infect Dis 2007; 7: 56 Wkly Epidemiol Rec 2007; 82: JID 2005; 192(Suppl 1) S1 EID 2006;12: 304

10. Part 3 - Can we clinically diagnose Rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE)?
High fever and vomiting in a 6 month to 2 year child
Severe vomiting resistant to anti-emetics
Followed by explosive diarrhea, severe with significant peri-anal excoriation
The diarrhea can be mild to severe and generally lasts 3-9 days. Illness usually begins 3 days after exposure.

11. Part 4 – Preventing rotavirus
Democratic Virus – affects the entire world equally, without differentiating the rich & poor – almost 40 % of hospital admissions worldwide due to diarrhea are due to RVGE.
Hand-washing and sanitation.