Editing Rotavirus (section)

== Signs and symptoms ==

Rotaviral enteritis is a mild to severe disease characterised by [[nausea]], [[vomiting]], watery diarrhoea and low-grade [[fever]]. Once a child is infected by the virus, there is an [[incubation period]] of about two days before symptoms appear.<ref name="pmid10532018">{{cite journal |vauthors=Hochwald C, Kivela L |title=Rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, tetravalent (RotaShield) |journal=Pediatric Nursing |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=203–204, 207 |year=1999|pmid=10532018}}</ref> The period of illness is acute. Symptoms often start with vomiting followed by four to eight days of profuse diarrhoea. [[Dehydration]] is more common in rotavirus infection than in most of those caused by bacterial pathogens, and is the most common cause of death related to rotavirus infection.<ref name="pmid1962726">{{cite journal |vauthors=Maldonado YA, Yolken RH |title=Rotavirus |journal=Baillière's Clinical Gastroenterology |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=609–625 |year=1990 |pmid=1962726 |doi=10.1016/0950-3528(90)90052-I }}</ref>

Rotavirus infections can occur throughout life: the first usually [[Symptom#Types|produces symptoms]], but subsequent infections are typically mild or [[asymptomatic]],<ref name="pmid16860702">{{cite journal |vauthors=Glass RI, Parashar UD, Bresee JS, Turcios R, Fischer TK, Widdowson MA, Jiang B, Gentsch JR |s2cid=34569166 |title=Rotavirus vaccines: current prospects and future challenges |journal=The Lancet |volume=368 |issue=9532 |pages=323–332 |year= 2006 |pmid=16860702 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68815-6 }}</ref><ref name="pmid9015109">{{cite journal <!--Deny Citation Bot-->|vauthors=Bishop RF |title=Natural history of human rotavirus infection |journal=Archives of Virology. Supplementum |volume=12 |issue= |pages=119–28 |date=1996 |pmid=9015109 |doi=10.1007/978-3-7091-6553-9_14|isbn=978-3-211-82875-5 }}</ref> as the immune system provides some protection.<ref name="isbn0-471-49663-43">{{cite book |author=Offit PA|title=Gastroenteritis viruses|isbn=978-0-471-49663-2 |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=2001 |pages=106–124}}</ref> Consequently, symptomatic infection rates are highest in children under two years of age and decrease progressively towards 45 years of age.<ref name="isbn0-89603-736-32">{{cite book |vauthors=Ramsay M, Brown D |veditors=Desselberger U, Gray J |title=Rotaviruses: Methods and Protocols|series=Methods in Molecular Medicine|volume=34|pages=217–238 |publisher=Humana Press |location=Totowa, NJ |year=2000|isbn=978-0-89603-736-6|chapter=Epidemiology of Group A Rotaviruses: Surveillance and Burden of Disease Studies|doi=10.1385/1-59259-078-0:217|pmid=21318862}}</ref> The most severe symptoms tend to occur in children six months to two years of age, the elderly, and those with [[immunodeficiency]]. Due to immunity acquired in childhood, most adults are not susceptible to rotavirus; gastroenteritis in adults usually has a cause other than rotavirus, but asymptomatic infections in adults may maintain the transmission of infection in the community.<ref name="pmid14871633">{{cite journal |vauthors=Anderson EJ, Weber SG |title=Rotavirus infection in adults |journal=The Lancet Infectious Diseases |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=91–99 |year=2004 |pmid=14871633 |doi=10.1016/S1473-3099(04)00928-4 |pmc=7106507 }}</ref> There is some evidence to suggest blood group can impact on the susceptibility to infection by rotaviruses.<ref name="pmid32918943">{{cite journal |vauthors=Elhabyan A, Elyaacoub S, Sanad E, Abukhadra A, Elhabyan A, Dinu V |title=The role of host genetics in susceptibility to severe viral infections in humans and insights into host genetics of severe COVID-19: A systematic review |journal=Virus Research |volume=289 |issue= |pages=198163 |date=November 2020 |pmid=32918943 |pmc=7480444 |doi=10.1016/j.virusres.2020.198163 }}</ref>