thread: Rotavirus Vaccine and Intussusception

  1. #1
    Crimson Sketch Guest

    Rotavirus Vaccine and Intussusception

    Hi guys,

    Just thought I'd share a story I heard recently. A friend of mine had their little 4 month old in hospital after spending all day with it screaming in pain and drawing it's legs up and vomiting. They weren't sure if it was gastro or something else. They spent the night in hospital, and then the next morning it had a big poo with blood in it.

    Anyway, within about two hours they had diagnosed it with intususception, which is where a part of the bowel telescopes in on itself and starts to die. They had to fly out to a children's hospital and have surgery to remove the damaged bowel.

    Anyway, when they were talking to the paediatrician, he was saying that this condition was an uncommon but "well-documented" side effect of the rotavirus vaccine. He even said that he'd prefer to have rotavirus, then have to deal with an intussusception.

    Another reason I'm glad we've chosen not to immunise...

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Dec 2007
    Sunny Qld
    14,682

    Holy freakin moly

    Hope the baby recovers ok.

  3. #3
    queenbee Guest

    Oh that is terrible. My DD is fully vaccinated. How scary if that had happened to her! Hope your friend's little one recovers well

  4. #4
    BellyBelly Life Member

    Jul 2004
    House of the crazy cat ladies...
    3,793

    That is really worrying.... I should have researched more about giving that vac to Eva. I didn't want it, told the GP I didn't want it, and she basically bullied me into it (she was a locum, I dont think my normal GP would have pressured me). Not that thats an excuse though...
    I hope the little one has pulled through ok.

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Add ~clover~ on Facebook

    Sep 2007
    travelling
    9,557

    Wow. I've never heard of that before.
    DD2 had rotavirus at 6 months, so I never questioned having it done with DS. I didn't want to go through that again.
    But, wow. I hope the baby recovers ok.
    Thats scary.

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Jun 2008
    Tassie
    2,567

    wow I haven't hear that before! However I have heard of lots of rotovirus cases, my nephew had it, no way I wasn't vaccinating after seeing that