Downtown Medical Center NYC Alerts: Warning Signs of Rotavirus

Rotavirus is found to be the leading cause of diarrhea in infants and young children. Downtown Medical Center NYC provides statistics that Rotavirus is found to cause more than 500,000 deaths annually in kids younger than 5 years of age.  It is also referred to as a democratic virus as it can equally cause acute gastroenteritis in kids from the developed as well as developing countries.

Rotavirus Main Threat Is Dehydration

Downtown Medical Center NYC specialists confirm that Rotavirus has multiple strains and it causes diarrhea leading to a loss of a substantial amount of fluid from the body. The fluid losses in the settings of Rotavirus are enough to cause severe dehydration that if not managed properly in the hospital with intravenous fluid can even lead to the death of the child. Thus treatment of Rotavirus gastroenteritis is mainly supportive that is focused on preventing or treating severe dehydration and all the lethal complications occurring secondary to it.

How Will the Child with Rotavirus Infection Present?

The kid will present with the profuse watery diarrhea associated with vomiting lasting from two days to about a week. It also causes fever, crampy abdominal pain, loss of appetite. Like already said, the most dangerous thing occurring in the settings of Rotavirus infection is severe dehydration. Our internal medicine doctors note that the signs and symptoms that can help you point toward severe dehydration are:

• Kid may become irritable, restless. He may even become drowsy or unconscious.
• Kid may complain of dryness in the mouth and throat.
• Urine output may be decreased
• Kid may cry but there won’t be any tears

How Is Rotavirus Spread?

Downtown Medical Center NYC specialists specify that Rotavirus is found to spread via the feco-oral route. The infected kid passes the virus in the stools. Thus contaminated water, particularly in places where sanitation is not that good, can be a cause of Rotavirus transmission.  In addition, an infected kid may not wash his hands after using the toilet. They may touch other objects with their contaminated hands contaminating them as well. Ultimately other kids can also get infected upon touching any of these contaminated objects.

How Can We Diagnosis Rotavirus Infection at Downtown Medical Center NYC?

The presence of Rotavirus can be confirmed at Downtown Medical Center NYC by testing stool for the Rotavirus. Most of the times no other tests are required however for the purpose of infection control we may need to exactly classify the type of Rotavirus and for that, we need some advance test such as polymerase chain reaction and enzyme immunoassays.

For more information, please visit Century Medical and Dental Center (Downtown Brooklyn, Gravesend, Flatbush, Fort Greene and Midtown Manhattan) to speak with one of our specialists.