Herpangina Symptoms

Herpangina, also called Zahorsky’s disease, primarily affects children. Your child or baby has a fever and blisters in the mouth, difficulty swallowing, but no bad breath? He feels nauseous and has abdominal pain? Especially in summer and autumn, children and babies are affected by this usually harmless viral infection. The disease is described quite well by its name, herpangina: 2-3 mm blisters that look like cold sores but are located in the back of the throat, causing pain and difficulty swallowing like tonsillitis (angina tonsillaris).

Causes: How does herpangina develop?

The causative agents are Coxsackie A viruses, which are transmitted through drinking water and contaminated food. Initially, they multiply in the throat and gastrointestinal tract and cause corresponding symptoms. Very rarely, they enter other organs via the bloodstream and cause symptoms there. Inflammations of the meninges or brain are particularly dangerous.

What are the symptoms of infection?

The symptoms begin about two to six days after infection with high fever and usually severely impaired general condition. A velvety feeling prepares in the back of the throat, due to the inflammation. The small vesicles burst after a short time and disintegrate into painful ulcers. In addition to the difficulty in swallowing, nausea and abdominal pain also occur. After one, at the latest two weeks, everything is usually over.

Therapy: what you can do?

The doctor will almost always be able to make the tentative diagnosis on the basis of typical symptoms. There is no causal therapy for herpangina (Zahorsky’s disease). However, some measures can alleviate the symptoms: