Decoding Diarrhea Rotavirus

- Diarrhea usually develops between 3 and 7 days of age.

- There may be a drooling of saliva and profuse watery diarrhea. The feces will vary in color from yellow to green.

- Rotavirus infects cells essential to the absorption of nutrients in the small intestine. The lack of small intestine nutrient absorption causes nutritional deficiencies for the calf, and interferes with the rest of the digestive tract’s ability to absorb water.

- Not all calves with rotavirus have diarrhea.

- Calves lose their appetite and the death rate may be high. Death losses are consistently associated with pronounced dehydration.

- The infection may be short lived but the intestinal lining has to recover from damage.