How long does it take for a child to recover from rotavirus infection?

This is an automatically translated article.

1. How long does it take for a child to be infected with Rotavirus to recover?

Rotavirus is the main cause of intestinal infections (also known as acute diarrhea) in children under 5 years old (especially children 3-24 months old). Each year, acute diarrhea is responsible for more than 600,000 child deaths worldwide, especially in developing countries. The virus will attack the digestive system, causing children to vomit, have a lot of bowel movements and become severely dehydrated. Without prompt rehydration treatment, the child can die.
About disease manifestations, 1 - 4 days after being infected with Rota virus, symptoms in children will begin to appear. First, the child has a high fever above 39°C, fussiness due to discomfort, vomiting, and then diarrhea. Your child may have vomiting and diarrhea up to 20 times a day, with loose, watery stools that are often green or white with mucus. Most children with the disease lose a large amount of water and electrolytes, so they need to be hospitalized for treatment. Symptoms of dehydration include: dry skin, dry mouth, sunken eyes, little urine, lethargy,...
How many days will the child get rid of rota? Acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus usually lasts about 3-9 days. However, the recovery period can even extend to several weeks afterward. In particular, after recovery, children may still experience weight loss, malnutrition, reduced resistance and susceptibility to a number of other diseases.
Watch now: Infectious source of acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus

2. How to care for children with diarrhea caused by Rotavirus infection

Parents need to know the following notes when taking care of children infected with Rota virus:

2.1 Rehydration

The most important thing when a child has diarrhea is rehydration, the best electrolyte replacement is to use oresol water. There are many types of oresol for children on the market with easy-to-drink flavors. Parents just need to pay attention to mix oresol with water for children according to regulations, not too dilute or too thick to avoid causing water and electrolyte disturbances, making children more severe diarrhea.
Parents can mix a whole package of oresol for their baby with the volume of water accurately measured to milliliters. When giving children to drink, you should give them each spoon of oresol, every 2 minutes. Children should not take oresol continuously because if they drink a lot and continuously, oresol will not be absorbed into the intestinal tract, but children are also more susceptible to dehydration due to vomiting. If after taking oresol, the child vomits, stop for 10 minutes and then give the child again at a slower rate.
Besides, parents should also note: Do not let children drink too salty rice porridge, fruit juice mixed with sugar, carbonated water, ... because it can make the child's illness worse.

2.2 Diet

In addition to paying attention to rehydration for children infected with Rota virus, parents need to build a suitable nutrition for the baby. Many mothers have the wrong view that: Children with diarrhea should abstain from foods such as meat, fish, sugar, milk, fishy substances, etc. This makes children not provided with the necessary nutrients. reduced resistance to disease, leading to prolonged diarrhea and increased risk of malnutrition.
Therefore, parents need to pay attention to provide enough necessary nutrients for the baby. Specifically, you should breastfeed your baby normally, eat more easily digestible foods such as thin porridge, soup, milk, banana pepper, ... and eat many small meals during the day. If a child on milk has a lot of diarrhea, parents can switch to lactose-free milk.
However, due to diarrhea accompanied by abdominal distention, children often refuse to eat much. In this case, parents should not be too worried and force the child to eat by all means. The phenomenon of bloating usually only lasts about 1-2 days, so parents can feed the baby little by little, divided into several meals a day.
In particular, with children infected with Rota virus, parents should not give children astringent leaves or fruits that have a lot of tannins such as green guava leaves, green guava, green sapodilla,... Tannins are effective, though effective. Use to tighten the intestinal membrane, help children stop diarrhea immediately, but this treatment can be harmful to the baby. Specifically, the disease only improves on external manifestations, while the causative agent is Rota virus, which is eliminated very slowly because the intestinal membrane is hunted. As a result, the disease lasts longer or even gets worse.
Watch now: Children have diarrhea caused by Rota virus, can it be again?

3. Choosing the appropriate treatment for children infected with Rotavirus

3.1 Take the child to infusion when necessary

If the child has diarrhea, vomiting but can still drink oresol water, eat and drink normally, and play normally, parents do not necessarily need to take the child to infusion. In case the child has diarrhea and vomiting a lot, is tired, lying down, does not play, does not eat, has signs of loss of sunken tears, dry skin, dry lips, ...) then parents should take the child to the hospital. hospital for timely transfusion.

3.2 Do not arbitrarily give the child antibiotics or anti-diarrheal drugs

Special note: When a child has viral diarrhea, parents should absolutely not give the child antibiotics. Because this puts children at risk of gastrointestinal bacterial disorders, making the disease worse or causing prolonged diarrhea (not to mention the side effects of antibiotics).
In addition, parents should not give children anti-diarrheal drugs because they do not kill the virus but also reduce intestinal motility, causing intestinal paralysis, and stools are not excreted. At that time, the child continued to have diarrhea but could not excrete stool, so stool stagnation in the intestine, leading to abdominal distention, intestinal perforation, intestinal obstruction, even death.

4. Measures to prevent the risk of children being infected with Rota virus

To prevent disease, it is best for parents to give their children a vaccine to prevent Rota virus. In addition, children are also at risk of contracting viruses through the gastrointestinal tract (food, water, contaminated objects, ...) so parents need to pay attention to keeping children clean (body hygiene, food hygiene, etc.) products, environment, furniture, etc.). At the same time, parents should also ensure that they provide enough necessary nutrients in their baby's diet so that the child has enough strength to fight off diseases and help the body recover quickly after diarrhea.
Rota virus has a very strong infectious ability. Children infected with Rotavirus can face many serious consequences. Therefore, parents need to pay attention to preventing the risk of diseases for children. At the same time, if the child has symptoms of acute diarrhea caused by Rotavirus, parents should take the child to the doctor immediately and perform the correct treatment according to the doctor's advice.
With many years of experience in examining and treating diseases in children, now the Pediatrics Department at Vinmec International General Hospital has become one of the major health care centers, capable of examining , screening and treatment of many specialized diseases in children. Therefore, if a child shows signs of being infected with Rotavirus causing diarrhea, parents can take the child to Vinmec International General Hospital for examination and receive support and advice from doctors and experts. health.
In addition, now Vinmec also has a full range of vaccines to prevent diseases for young children, including vaccines against Rota virus. All vaccines of Vinmec are imported officially, stored in a modern cold storage system, with a cold chain that meets GSP standards, keeping vaccines in the best conditions to ensure quality . Therefore, parents can rest assured when choosing Vinmec as a place to take care of their baby's comprehensive health.

Please dial HOTLINE for more information or register for an appointment HERE. Download MyVinmec app to make appointments faster and to manage your bookings easily.