Rota virus jabs

[SJL]

Does anyone know if you can getthe rotavirus jab late?

A friend of mine has a 6yr old who suffers from rota virus on a regular basis (3 times this year) her doctor said it has to be given at 2,4 and 6months and if you miss out you build up your own defenses to it but her little boy hasn't.
Should she persist with other docs or just hope her boy builds a resistance?

[Trillian]

As far as I know the Rotarix vaccine isn't a needle, it's a serum vaccination that they swallow. If the Dr say's that it can't be given, then i guess it can't but there are other ways to help build his gut immunity so he has a better chance of fighting these bugs when he gets them by making sure he has a good diet and also taking some probiotics to replace all the good bacteria in the gut that are depleated during a gastro illness.

[ShootingStar]

Trillian is right.. the Rotavirus they give to babies at 2, 4 & 6 months is an oral dose.
But i would like to know if it can be given to older kids too.. DS had a really BAD case of gastro a few months ago.. i would hate for him to continue to have these..

ETA.. i just found this on the net:
Giving the vaccine to older children (‘catch-up’ vaccination) is not recommended because the safety and effectiveness of the oral rotavirus vaccine have not been confirmed in older children.

[*Belle*]

I was told no last week, Julia's daycare had the Rotavirus and she is 2 1/2 nearly and the GP said she cannot give up after 6 month old.

[Schmickers]

Rotavirus is an infection that generally only happens once, and then the body builds up an immunity to the infection. For your friend's child, I would be concerned that it isn't rotavirus, and that it may be some other sort of infection - something like clostridium, which can be very difficult to treat and cause recurrent gastro infections.

The rotavirus vaccination won't be offered to children over 6 months of age because the rotavirus infection is not as dangerous after this age.

I'd be considering looking for other causes for his symptoms.

[Visitor9]

DD had confirmed rota-virus when she was 18months old, this hospitalised her twice in a month for 3 weeks in total being NGT and IV'd. We were told by the paed to get her to have the serum after 12 months as if she was to be exposed after 12 months she had no immunity. So we had her serumed at 2.5 ...3 doses . She has been admitted this year for Rota virus thankfully this was just a weeks admittance, I think there is so many differing strains they cant keep up with it.

[ShootingStar]

Oh really Schmickers.. is there a way to know the difference between Rotavirus and general (if it is general) gastro? My DS had it really bad a few months back. Was vomitting for a few days, diarrohea for over a week, was very dehydrated (skin was very scaley), lathargic, fever, etc.