“It was traumatic,” says Christina Velasco of the ordeal she and her daughter went through when Nike, then two years old, went down with a severe case of diarrhea.

“It started with vomiting and fever, followed by diarrhea,” the scriptwriter for a major TV network recalls. “Nike's diarrheal episodes were very frequent and at short interval. From being perfectly healthy and strong, she had grown very weak in a short time. Her eyes became sunken, and her lips became very dry. I felt so helpless watching her suffer.”

“I was so panic-stricken. I rushed her to the hospital where the doctors immediately gave her intravenous fluids. But it helped very little. Nike was very weak. But the doctors could not give Nike any medication. They said there is no medication for diarrhea (and that) the only thing they could do was replace the fluids that she was losing to prevent her from dehydrating. They told me we just have to let the virus run its course.”

“It took the virus five days to flush itself out of Nike. So my daughter had to stay at the hospital the whole time the virus was within her body. The doctors had to do series of examinations of her excretions to find out what infected her. When they eventually told me it was rotavirus, I didn't know then what it was (as) I've never heard of it before that episode. All I knew was, whatever it was, it caused me and my baby so much pain.”

“When I look back at that episode, I still see her lying in bed. She was so small, so vulnerable. Whenever the nurses would change her dextrose, she would cry; and I would also cry, wishing it was me, not my daughter who was in there.”

Nike's story is not uncommon among kids two years old or younger, as millions of babies are infected of the same virus every year, the outcome of which could be worse, but may not be better, than Nike's.

And yet, up to now, there is little knowledge about the culprit among parents: why and how it could wreak so much havoc among infants and, more important, how they could keep their children safe from its claws.

Vital Facts

•  Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis among children worldwide

•  Rotavirus gastroenteritis hits the youngest the hardest; 28 % of cases occur in infants below five months; and 43 % among babies between six and 11 months

•  Nearly every child age five years old have had at least one episode of rotavirus diarrhea.

The culprit

infectious, can survive hours on hands and days on solid surfaces, and can remain stable in human feces for up to one week. Its main mode of transmission is through the oral-fecal route. However, because of the virus' strong resistance to inactivation, improved general hygiene and sanitation standards do not effectively reduce the incidence of rotavirus infections.

Characterized by vomiting, diarrhea (10 to 20 bowel movements per day), fever and abdominal pain that could last for three to nine days, rotavirus infection causes greater risk of dehydration than childhood diarrhea caused by other infections. If left unchecked, it could lead to organ malfunction resulting from dehydration, and death.

The burden of the disease

The cost of medicine and hospitalization, among others, is more than enough to drain an average household's resources. But these losses seem negligible compared to a vulnerable child's unnecessary suffering and the emotional stress and anxiety the parents go through.

Says Christina: “If it had been me, I could have endured the suffering. But seeing my daughter in pain was just too much. If I had known there was a way for me to prevent that from happening to my child, I would have done it, no matter the cost.”

Yes, Nike survived the ordeal, but upon her body, she still wears the marks of the torture she endured, and she is still to shake off her fear of those “women in white” who kept inserting needles into her veins.

And even then, Nike is still lucky. Millions of children around the world are not as fortunate.

Don't let your child be among them. Have them vaccinated against the deadly virus.

Prevention Tips

•  Exclusive breastfeeding for six months

•  Regular disinfection of play areas and toys

•  Frequent hand washing

•  Vaccination

Source: Lecture prepared by Dr. Lulu Bravo, Chief of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases section of the Department of Pediatrics, UP Manila

• When Breathing Doesn't Come Easy