Treatment of acute rotavirus infection is nonspecific and involves management of symptoms and, most importantly, maintenance of hydration. If untreated, children can die from the resulting severe dehydration. Depending on the severity of diarrhoea, treatment consists of oral rehydration with plain water, water plus salts, or water plus salts and sugar. Some infections are serious enough to warrant hospitalisation where fluids are given by intravenous drip or nasogastric tube, and the child's electrolytes and blood sugar are monitored.
Rotavirus infections rarely cause other complications and for a well managed child the prognosis is excellent. There are rare reports of complications involving the central nervous system (CNS) where rotavirus was detected in the fluid of the CNS in cases of encephalitis and meningitis, and recent studies have confirmed that rotavirus infection is not always confined to the gut, but can cause viremia.
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