The number of cases of a highly infectious vomiting bug which
affects children under five are up by a third on last year. The
rise in cases of rotavirus is believed to be related to the
early cold snap. But children in the West Country will soon
benefit from a new vaccination programme that's been announced
by the Department of Health. Three year old Rio Poole from
Bristol has been struck down with rotavirus not once but twice.
He's not alone. Almost every child in Britain will have had the
viral infection by the age of five. It's the most common cause
of gastroenteritis in infants and very young children. For Rio
though, it was much worse than just a bout of vomiting and
diarrhoea. He ended up in hospital and became seriously ill.
Rio's mum, Katrina Poole, says: "Rio couldn't keep anything
down. There was nothing staying down, there was nothing staying
in. That's obviously why he became so poorly - it was the
dehydration that set in and it didn't wee for 24 hours so he was
in quite a state by the time he act