About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThere's no specific treatment for a rotavirus infection. Antibiotics won't help a rotavirus infection. Usually, the infection resolves within three to eight days. Preventing dehydration is the biggest concern.
To prevent dehydration while the virus runs it course, drink plenty of fluids. If your child has severe diarrhea, offer an oral rehydration fluid such as Pedialyte — especially if the diarrhea lasts longer than a few days. For children, a rehydration fluid can replace lost minerals more effectively than can water or other liquids. Severe dehydration may require intravenous fluids in the hospital.
- About rotavirus. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/rotavirus/about_rotavirus.htm. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Dormitzer PR. Rotaviruses. In: Mandell GL, et al. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 76th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00150-8--s0025&uniq=208765716&isbn=978-0-443-06839-3&sid=1022307630#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06839-3..00150-8%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-443-06839-3. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Update on recommendations for the use of rotavirus vaccines. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm212140.htm. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Matson DO. Rotavirus vaccines. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis among infants and children: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2009;58:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr5802.pdf. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Diarrhea. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/diarrhea/#children. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- What to do in a medical emergency: Fever. American College of Emergency Physicians. http://www.emergencycareforyou.org/EmergencyManual/WhatToDoInMedicalEmergency/Default.aspx?id=242&terms=fever. Accessed July 20, 2010.
- Steckelberg JM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 19, 2010.
- Hoecker JL (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 26, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on