Rotavirus infection: an update on management and prevention.

Rotavirus infection is the most common cause of severe diarrhea disease in infants and young children worldwide and continues to have a major global impact on childhood morbidity and mortality. Vaccination is the only control measure likely to have a significant impact on the incidence of severe dehydrating rotavirus disease. Rotavirus vaccines have reduced the burden of rotavirus disease in the United States. Long-term monitoring will need to continue to assess the effects of rotavirus immunization programs and epidemiologic strain surveillance is necessary to determine whether changes in strain ecology will affect the rotavirus vaccine effectiveness and whether rotaviruses with the ability to evade vaccine immunity emerge.