Health

Hand, foot and mouth disease

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is common in children under 10 years old, but anyone can get it. The illness is usually not serious, but it is very contagious. To prevent spreading HFMD, wash your hands often, clean and disinfect surfaces, and avoid close contact with others.

People with HFMD are usually most contagious during the first week that they are sick. However, people can still spread the virus to others for days or weeks after symptoms go away. They can spread it even if they have no symptoms at all.

To help prevent the spread of HFMD, it's important to stay home from school or work while you or your child have symptoms

HFMD is not related to the foot and mouth disease that is found in animals.

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms usually start three to seven days after becoming infected, and can last from seven to 10 days. If your child has HFMD, they may feel tired, have a fever, and have a rash. Depending on which virus your child has, the skin rash can look like:

• Small, oval, white blisters on the palms, soles of the feet, as well as in the mouth. Your child may have a sore mouth and throat, leading to poor appetite or risk of dehydration (drinking and eating can be painful because of the mouth blisters).
• A red skin rash with a brown scale on it. The rash appears on the outer arms, hands, legs, feet, around the mouth and upper buttocks. The trunk is usually relatively clear. Sometimes there are blisters present, but they are not usually in the mouth and your child can eat and drink as usual.

The blisters should not be itchy like chickenpox blisters. If your child has eczema, the HFMD can cause the eczema to worsen and potentially become infected with bacteria.

How it's spread?

The main way HFMD spreads is through contact with the fluid from inside the blisters, or with the droplets spread from sneezing and coughing. The virus can also be present in bowel movements (poo) for up to several weeks after the person has recovered.

To prevent the spread of HFMD:

• Wash your hands thoroughly after touching your child’s bodily fluids. This includes touching their blisters, helping them blow their nose, and changing nappies or helping with toileting.
• Make sure your child doesn’t share items such as cutlery, drinking cups, towels, toothbrushes and clothing.
• Keep your child home from school, kindergarten or child care until all the fluid in their blisters has dried.