Rotavirus

Uncommon card · No. 126896

Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus at least once by the age of five. Immunity develops with each infection, so subsequent infections are less severe. Adults are rarely affected. The virus is transmitted by the faecal–oral route. It infects and damages the cells that line the small intestine and causes gastroenteritis. Although rotavirus was discovered in 1973 by Ruth Bishop and her colleagues by electron micrograph images and accounts for about one-third of hospitalisations for severe diarrhoea in infants and children, its importance has historically been underestimated within the public health community, particularly in developing countries. In addition to its impact on human health, rotavirus also infects other animals, and is a pathogen of livestock. Rotaviral enteritis is usually an easily managed disease of childhood, but among children under 5 years of age, rotavirus...

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