Why Focus on Rotavirus?
It was not until 1973 that human rotavirus was identified as the cause of severe childhood diarrhea. In the United States and most European countries, serious rotavirus cases occur, but the final outcomes are often very different from those that occur in developing countries where fewer medical resources and poor nutritional status lead to high death rates in children. According to Dr. Ward, approximately 600,000 children throughout the world die each year from rotavirus infections. Pediatricians consider it the sixth most serious infectious disease that can affect children younger than 3 years old.
