Making war against rotavirus

MANILA, Philippines - Gone are the days when parents dismiss diarrhea as mere “suka’t tae,” as health advocate group Rotaphil gives the real deal on this potentially fatal disease in a handbook entitled The Rotavirus Disease: What Parents Need to Know.

The handbook unveils important facts about rotavirus that concerned parents need to know in combating the number one cause of death due to diarrhea among children around the world. It discusses symptoms of rotavirus infection such as diarrhea, fever, and vomiting — all of which can happen in children, especially aged five and below, from across the socio-economic spectrum. Because of its non-discriminating nature, rotavirus has been dubbed by health experts as a “democratic disease,” causing more than 600,000 deaths yearly among children from both developed and developing countries.

“One of the purposes of the handbook is to make parents aware that rotavirus may be present in one’s hands or virtually any surface and can strike their unprotected child at any place, and any time,” says Dr. Ma. Lourdes Genuino, assistant secretary of the Philippine Society of Pediatric Gastroentology and Nutrition.

Dr. Lulu Bravo, vice-chancellor for research at the University of the Philippines Manila and executive director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, furthers that the handbook was especially developed by health experts from Rotaphil in partnership with global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, to guide parents on how to deal with children infected with rotavirus and how to take proactive steps such as vaccination in order to protect their children from possible infection. 

“Through The Rotavirus Disease: What Parents Need to Know, we hope to advocate action leading to a reduction and gradual elimination of the rotavirus disease,” Bravo explains.

To request for a free copy of The Rotavirus Disease: What Parents Need to Know handbook, e-mail rotaphil@gmail.com.