Protect Your Child against Rotavirus

A childRotavirus is a virus that causes severe diarrhea, mostly in babies and young children. The good news is that there are vaccines to prevent rotavirus. Be sure to protect your child from serious illness caused by rotavirus by getting him or her vaccinated.

A mother and childRotavirus can make your baby or young child very sick. This virus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children in the U.S., and it also often leads to vomiting, fever, and dehydration. Rotavirus is very contagious; it spreads when infants or young children come into contact with an infected person or objects contaminated by the feces of an infected person. Before a rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 2006, as many as 270,000 infants and young children were taken to the emergency room each year because of the disease, and as many as 70,000 were hospitalized.

Today, there are vaccines that prevent the disease. These vaccines differ in how they are made and when they are given, but both are given orally and both will protect your child against rotavirus.

* The RotaTeq® vaccine has been used since early 2006. Infants should receive this oral vaccine in three doses, at 2, 4, and 6 months of age.
* The Rotarix® vaccine was approved in April 2008. This is also an oral vaccine. Infants should receive it at 2 and 4 months of age.

Most babies who get vaccinated with RotaTeq® or Rotarix® will not get diarrhea from rotavirus, and almost all of them will be protected from severe diarrhea caused by rotavirus. This means that babies who get vaccinated are much less likely to be hospitalized or to see a doctor because of diarrhea from rotavirus. The rotavirus vaccines may be given at the same time as other childhood vaccines.