Who has children, the term hand-foot-mouth disease should certainly have heard a few times: This is namely an infectious disease that mostly affects children under the age of ten and especially kindergarten children. However, it can also affect adults. Because the infectious disease is highly contagious and can spread almost epidemically if hygiene measures are inadequate, rapid recognition and treatment are very important. How to correctly interpret the symptoms of hand-foot-and-mouth disease and respond in the best possible way is explained in this article.
What is hand-foot-and-mouth disease?
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is a viral disease that is considered highly contagious. Often referred to as “false foot-and-mouth disease” or hand-foot-and-mouth exanthema, the infectious disease occurs worldwide, but is clustering into veritable epidemics, especially in Asia. Because of the high risk of infection, children in kindergartens, playgroups and schools, but also daycare centers are usually affected – but the disease also often occurs in adults and especially people with weaker immune systems. Incidentally, the infectious disease occurs more frequently in late summer or autumn.
Timely detection avoids spreading the disease
In most cases, the disease is harmless and in adults often even without symptoms. In rare cases, however, it can take a serious course that can lead to damage to the nervous system. Although the disease is basically considered harmless, it is nevertheless very important to interpret the symptoms correctly at an early stage and to react to the disease accordingly – otherwise a high density of the infectious pathogens will quickly occur in institutions such as kindergartens, so that the risk of infection is unnecessarily increased.
How to interpret symptoms correctly
Recognizing the symptoms of hand-foot-and-mouth disease early can help keep viruses to a minimum in public settings so that the risk of infection to other children and adults is not too high. It is especially important to protect infants among siblings by responding properly to the disease. But how do you actually recognize hand-foot-and-mouth disease? After only a short incubation period, hand-foot-and-mouth disease makes itself felt through symptoms that initially look like a conventional flu. Fever may occur, but also pain in the limbs or complete loss of appetite are normal in this infectious disease. Shortly thereafter, the symptoms typical of hand-foot-and-mouth disease then appear, and – as the name suggests – increasingly on the hands, feet and mouth area.
Rash on the hands, feet and mouth
A rash develops especially on the tongue, on the mucous membrane of the mouth and also on the gums, consisting of red spots and vesicles. These usually prove to be painful and are also often noticeable around the mouth by severe itching. Almost at the same time, this rash can also appear on the hands and feet. At first, it appears harmless due to reddish spots on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, but then the itching and pain caused by the blisters quickly sets in here as well. These are filled with a secretion containing the pathogens. In addition to the typical sites, the rash can also appear on the buttocks, elbows and knees or in the genital area or other parts of the body.
Typical course of hand-foot-and-mouth disease.
This typical course of the disease provides you with an overview of common symptoms and their duration. Thus, it enables you to correctly recognize hand-foot-and-mouth disease as such:
- About three to ten days after infection: flu-like symptoms such as fever and aching limbs.
- One to two days after the first symptoms: rash on and in the mouth forms, then on the hands and feet – painful blisters on the tongue, in the mouth, around the mouth and on the body complete the rash formation
- After seven to ten days: rash slowly subsides, the blisters begin to heal
How to treat hand-foot-and-mouth disease.
The carriers of the disease, viruses, can not be treated with drugs, because there are no drugs against the causative viruses. Once in the body, the viruses set the disease in motion unless there is an adequate immune response.However, the disease is also very harmless in most cases, especially in adults. Instead, in cases of hand-foot-and-mouth disease, the focus is on alleviating the sometimes painful and unpleasant symptoms as much as possible – for this reason, it is important to have the rash diagnosed by a doctor as early as possible. For this, usually only an anamnesis interview is necessary, plus a physical examination. If the symptoms are unclear or the clinical picture is more pronounced, further examinations may be necessary, for example a blood test or stool sample. Painkillers that can also reduce fever, such as paracetamol, are usually prescribed. Otherwise, an externally applied ointment with a plant base (such as chamomile) helps to relieve the pain and itching. To treat the pain in the mouth, a tincture or rinse with lidocaine has proven effective.
How is hand-foot-and-mouth disease transmitted?
The culprits of hand-foot-and-mouth disease are various enteroviruses, which are pathogens that are present almost everywhere and can lead to infection throughout the year. The pathogens are transmitted directly from person to person via bodily fluids and excretions such as salivary droplets from coughing and sneezing, defecation, and also the secretion from rash blisters. The incubation period for the disease is three to ten days – during this time the viruses multiply very strongly, one is highly contagious. But even after the first week of the disease’s course and even after the symptoms have subsided, affected individuals can still be highly contagious: This is because the viruses are also excreted through the stool of the affected person for several weeks. The bathroom in particular should therefore not be neglected when it comes to hygiene: Fittings such as sinks, faucets and Co. can pass on the pathogens.
Hygiene measures prevent spread
If you suspect that your child or you yourself are suffering from hand-foot-and-mouth disease, you should not only consult a doctor, but also ensure thorough hygiene. The disease is transmitted by both droplet and smear infection, so hygiene plays an important role in containing it. If your child has hand-foot-and-mouth disease, even if you are immune, you are a potentially highly contagious carrier of the disease because you can pass on the viruses. Therefore, it is also strongly advised for people around an infected person not to neglect hygiene. For this reason, adults should get a sick note from their doctor even if their own child is sick but they themselves are not affected – if adults go to work as potential carriers, the virus could spread. Precautions are of high importance precisely because adults hardly show any symptoms and the disease thus tends to go unnoticed in them.
7 Questions and answers about hand-foot-and-mouth disease – what else you should know.
Whether about the duration of the disease, the course and symptoms – questions about hand-foot-and-mouth disease arise again and again among parents and affected persons and should not remain unanswered. Therefore, we would also like to share answers to frequently asked questions in this article.
1) What does hand-foot-mouth disease look like?
Typical of the infectious disease is the rash with secretion-filled blisters, which occurs mainly in and around the mouth, but then also affects hands and feet. It should not be confused with mouth rot. Rot looks similar, but is not associated with the severe itching and typical rash. As the disease progresses, the blisters and red spots may appear on other parts of the body as the secretion spreads – but after a few days, the painful areas subside. If you are unsure, you can find some pictures online for the typical appearance of the rash to compare with. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) also provides important information on the subject, which may be able to help you.
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Adults, by the way, do not always show the symptoms, so they can be sick without fever and rash. It may also be that the illness is accompanied by nausea and diarrhea.
2) What to do if you have hand-foot-and-mouth disease?
First of all, if you suspect the disease, you should see a doctor. He can diagnose the disease and prescribe antipyretic painkillers to relieve the symptoms.Anyone who wants to help with home remedies can do this both as an adult and with the child: Honey in a lukewarm chamomile tea, for example, ensures that the pain in the mouth can be relieved and that the child drinks enough fluids. After all, even when infected with hand-foot-and-mouth disease, there is a risk of dehydration due to the pain of eating and drinking. Soups, yogurt and enough drinks should therefore be on the menu for both children and adults.
3) How often can you get hand foot and mouth disease?
Once hand-foot-and-mouth disease has cleared, you develop immunity to the pathogen that caused the infectious disease. However, this protection only works against that one pathogen, so you can still get sick from other hand-foot-and-mouth disease pathogens. Since there are several of these, the probability is high, especially in children who frequently come into contact with other children. So you can get infected with hand-foot-and-mouth disease again and again.
4) How long is hand-foot-and-mouth disease contagious?
Contagious one is as an affected person already from the first day of the incubation period for several weeks. Although the risk of infection to others is greatest during the first week of the disease’s course, infection via stool, secretions, or droplet transmission is still possible after the disease has subsided. So no matter how long you have the disease, you remain contagious for some time even after it has cleared.
5) How does the disease affect pregnant women and unborn babies?
You can also contract hand-foot-and-mouth disease during pregnancy. However, the pregnant woman herself usually hardly notices the disease, so it should not be bad, nor dangerous for the pregnancy. As a pregnant woman, you should nevertheless be especially careful, and prevent infection with the disease by proper hygiene as best as possible: because in the weeks around the birth you could be contagious for the baby.
6) What are the consequences of hand-foot-and-mouth disease in babies?
A baby usually also copes quite well with hand-foot-and-mouth disease. For the infant in his first two weeks of life, however, the infectious disease is somewhat more problematic because an infant of this age cannot yet maintain a good immune defense and the disease may therefore be more severe. Damage to the internal organs is possible in very rare cases in an infant during the first weeks of life. Thus, there is no nest protection in this regard.
7) Is hand-foot-and-mouth disease reportable in Germany?
No, the disease is not reportable in this country. Nevertheless, you should let the kindergarten concerned, at school or even your employer know in order to warn other parents or colleagues with children in time. As a possible carrier of hand-foot-and-mouth disease, you should stay at home with your child if possible and also ensure thorough hygiene at work so that the disease can be contained.
