Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 18, 2022
Rotavirus is a genus of double-stranded RNA virus and the leading cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, nearly all of whom have an infection by age five. Rotavirus A, the most common species, causes more than 90 per cent of human infections. Rotavirus is transmitted by the faecal–oral route. It infects cells that line the small intestine and produces an enterotoxin, which induces gastroenteritis, leading to severe diarrhoea and sometimes death through dehydration. Campaigns to combat rotaviruses focus on oral rehydration therapy for infected children and vaccination. Vaccines introduced in the 2000s have reduced the severity of infections in children and lowered hospitalisation rates. Although rotavirus was discovered in 1973 by Ruth Bishop and her colleagues, its importance has historically been underestimated within the public health community, particularly in developing countries. Rotavirus also infects animals and is a pathogen of livestock. (Full article...)