Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

My 1 year old and my 4 year old recently had hand, foot and mouth. It usually is only seen in children under 10 - my husband and I never got it. It is really contagious in children though, because you are contagious before any symptoms occur.

Just wanted to share a little information. Don't worry chances are that you and your husband are safe from contracting hand foot and mouth. It is a virus that is seen frequently in daycare's. It is spread by any secretions from the nose and mouth. At day care the children need to be reminded to wash hands as much as possible. But centers are big and children often forget. I hope your son is not in to much discomfort. It can take up to a week to be totally gone.
Good Luck.
Pediatric Nurse and Mother of Two

My daughter who is now 2 got hand, foot, mouth disease at about 20 months shortly after switching daycare facilities. It was extremely painful for her, she had quarter size sores all over the inside of her mouth. The doctor had us coat some sort of medicine (I can't remember what) directly on the sores which really seemed to help relieve the pain . Neither my husband or I caught it but it is contagious however it usually only affects young children.
I hope he feels better soon!

J.,

As long as I have worked in childcare and been around HFM I never saw an adult get it. I seen it pass child to child but never to the parents or teachers. I dont mean not to be careful in washing hands, not kissing them, etc. But I have never seen it passed on. But it can be painful to the child I am sur the dr. gave antiobocitcs to take care of it.

My son had it when he was about 2 years old. The doctor said he probably picked it up from day care and the day care provider said they had never heard of this disease. Anyway, he recovered find and I never got it. The doctor told me that children were susceptible and that we adults were basically immune.

J., from what I learned, this is a very common thing. It is awful to look at it and even more painful...but very common especially among kiddos that put their hands in their mouths, eat with their fingers, etc. I have 2 girls, both had this. I am not sure what your doctor told you to do, but mine told me to make a little mixture of Maalox and Beneadryl in a cup and (if is old enough) have him gargle with the mixture...if he is not old enough to gargle, just "paint" his mouth with it...it provides some relief and some good news is that it only lasts a few days. Mine did not stay in daycare, but contracted this after a play date at the park... Hope he feels better soon.

J.,
We kids have both had it. It is actually very common. Benadryl mixed with maaloc(?) helps with the sores in the mouth. Just make sure your child still drinks a lot so as not to dehydrate.
Good luck.
T. J

My daughter also had it when she was 2 but she ran a high fever and had tons of blisters i her mouth. Our pediatrician assured me that tons of kids get this and that it is really no big deal. He said it had probably come from daycare or nursery at church. No I didn't get it at all. I believe the doctors said that it was a childhood disease. Hope this helps

They call it hand, foot and mouth because the poor babies get blisters in those locations. My daughter got it the first week of daycare. While she transferred it on to my friend's triplets, none of the adults got it. Although there have been several additional outbreaks at daycare, Shelby's immunity has held and she had not gotten it again.

Yeah, hand, foot and mouth disease or Coxsackievirus is something that makes the kids feel pretty miserable. They can have a high fever with it as well.
The BIG thing with this is it's viral and antibiotics will not make this go away any faster than time. Plus, you don't want antibiotics for it because it's a waste of time, squirrls up the child's stomach/gut flora, and only subjects the child to antibiotics they don't need.
The other thing to keep in mind is to keep fluids going in. The sores/blisters can accumulate in the back of the throat (hense the mouth part of the name) and it makes it difficult/painful to swallow. Keep encouraging the child to drink small sips of cool fluids all day and, provided it's cleared with your doctor, give Tylenol or Motrin for discomfort and/or fever. Milk/formula is fine, avoid anything caffeinated, with carbination, and heavy citrus since it tends to make the pain worse.
This isn't the Hoof and Mouth disease you see in livestock. That's a far different condition and that's much more worrisome. This will pass and if you've not had it, you may get it. It's passed through bad handwashing and sharing of cups, spoons, etc.
Here's a link to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website for more and reliable information.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/hfhf.htm

I hope this helps.
P.
Helotes, Tx

J.,

Yes. My son contracted HFM disease when he was 3 from his Montessori school. I did catch it myself, but I did not get blisters just really senstive soles of my feet and palms of my hands. He did get some small blisters on his hands and around his mouth. He ran a temperature, but basically we were told nothing you can do, just wait it out, he got over it in about 3 days if I reacall correctly.
Good luck,
N.

My son had this also. He never was in daycare. We always went to McDonald's and Chick-Fil-A, to the park and to play areas like Inflatable Wonderland. All you can do is just keep him busy and try to get his mind off the itching. He will be fine I promise you. No I never contracted it and he has only had it once and he is 3.

Oh, yes, both of my daughters got it, too...from the YMCA--where I work out. It didn't last long and didn't seem to bother them much, and no, I did not get it. Thank goodness! I was CRAZY about washing my hands, etc. Good luck!

2 of my 3 children had this at one point. It was not bothersome to them, and neither my husband or I got it. It is rampant in childcare facilities, but generally not harmful.

We didn't get it but we were told to stay away from pregnant mothers and if you have had contact with someone that is pregnant you need to let them know bacause it is dangerous for the baby

My daughter had it, but none of the adults ever got it. She was at an in-home daycare at the time, and they told me none of the other kids had gotten it. At her current daycare one of her friends got it, but I think since it's viral she was immune and didn't get it again. Good luck.

I worked at a daycare while in college and you can count on the fact that he caught it at daycare. Just do whatever the doc told you to do and please let the director of the daycare know that your son has the virus. She's required by the state to send a note out to all the parents letting them know it's going around and to be on the lookout for signs of it in their child. Don't worry, they won't tell everyone it's your son who has it :-)

I believe your son has Coxsackie B19 (named after the town it was first diagnosed in). It is highly contagious. My dr prescribed his "magic pink medicine" which helped some to at least be able to drink/eat and take meds. It is very painful and took several weeks to clear up.

I had had oral surgery, then hospitalized for 30 hrs which are the only places I might have picked it up. In spite of everything, my husband wound up with it and until he started using the pink med he just got worse and worse.

I hope this helps as it wasn't any kind of fun for an adult and you didn't say how old your son is, poor fella !

BTW - I'm a 76 yr old great grandmother with 6 great grands and I raised 7 daughters - very thankful that none of them had to go through that.

My son got it like 3 times from daycare (one time after the other). It is the gift that keeps giving. By the time they get the blisters, they are no longer contagious, soooooo if the kids look fine, they could still have cooties!! Their little bodies don't build up an immunity like chicken pox so they can get it over and over again. The 3rd time my son got it, his system was already so weak from the first two times, he ran a fever of 105.9 for a week and had blisters all down his throat. The doctor gave him some special meds to numb his throat so he could eat, but he would only drink Ensure. I finally just pulled him out of that daycare center. When he went to a different one, he never got sick.
The only thing you can really do for treatment, is keep them cozy. Cool them off when the fevers come and soft, non-acidic foods to eat and lots of water until it passes. Clean everything in the house with a sanitizer spray (Chlorox has one) and wash all of his stuff. If you can do it, find a babysitter for a couple weeks until the cycle is broken at your daycare center, then take him back. You will be suprised (I worked in daycare) that no matter how much the workers wash their hands and sanitize toys and the rooms, it still runs rampant and from room to room. It's one of those things you just have to out wait.

Hi, well, my niece had this when she was younger and I did get it from her. Apparently it is pretty rare to get it as an adult but the symptoms are much worse. It was horrible. But really you are just supposed to wash your hands and be a little cautious with them. You have to have some kind of direct contact with the sores... I don't know how I got it, but that being said, my husband never got it from me so just wash your hands after changing diapers and having contact with the sores. I hope he gets better soon. My niece did not seem to be in too much discomfort but I sure was...

So many of my friends who children go to daycare have this right now. It's super contageous and for children this age they still put their hands in their mouths. I feel for you!

Hello! My son was diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth disease last year. He also contacted it through his daycare. Neither me or my husband ever got it. My pediatrician told me there was not an available treatment for this. It just has to run it's course.

Hi J.,

when my son was about 14 and then 16 months old he got HF&M disease. the first time it was as you described and they said he probably got it from daycare although he wasn't in daycare at the time. ?? The second time he got it, it was much worse visually. In other words, it looked like the measles and was all over his body. Doctor said it was pretty common for toddlers and wasn't anything to be alarmed about. They said a lot of toddlers carry it and pass it on without even realizing it and without having any symptoms. After he got it the second time, shortly after I got viral meningitis. I'm not trying to scare you at all and at first the doctor indicated there couldn't be any correlation, but after I did my own research, one of the causes of viral meningitis are enteroviruses which are intestinal viruses. This is how HF&M is spread through the intestional tract and HF&M is an enterovirus. So needless to say, I'm pretty sure that is how I caught the viral meningitis even though I couldn't get a doctor to confirm that. It was very scary because I ended up in the hospital for almost a week in ICU because they had to determine whether it was viral or bacterial (the deadly of the two). First symptom that I had was an absolutely horrible headache that didn't go away. Wash your hands religously.

What I have understood is that HFM is very much a virus similar to chicken pox where you get it once and don't get it again typically. Many adults have had it at one point in their childhood, and therefore they don't get it. I do have a friend (adult) that got it. My oldest got it after some friends had it. Just be sure to wash his hands a lot while he has it but I wouldn't be too concerned about getting it.

My son had this a couple of summers ago and you just have to be very religious about cleaning everything - ALLLLLL the time!!! It gets very hard but when it is that important and that is really the only way to get rid of it... you just have to do it. I did not get it but we were living with a family and that is how my son picked it up (from their son) and the mom of that family did. It doesn't mean that things are terribly dirty but it is pretty much best treated like a cold. Don't let him stick his fingers in his mouth and wash/disinfect everything he touches. It really doesn't last all that long.

My sisters children had it when they were really little. While my sister did not get it, my brother in-law got it bad. He actually had trouble walking and such.

Because it is a virus, there is no medication that will get rid of it. Antibiotics are no use, and are not prescribed for this. There is one thing that may help the mouth discomfort - it's called 'magic mouthwash' (a compound that is made at the pharmacy). It tastes awful, but it helps the blisters dry out and heal faster.

My son caught it, and my husband contracted it from him. It's one of those things that you only get once, unless you're immune system is compromised. Apparently my husband had not had it as a child, but I seemed to have been immune. Taking my husband's word for it, it is extremely painful. He had trouble eating without it causing pain. His blisters stayed around longer than my son's, as well, because he had allergy symptoms at the same time. According to his doctor, the mucus drainage in the back of his throat was coating the blisters and allowing them to hang around longer, instead of bursting and drying out. It took him 10 days to get over it, and he claims to still have some discomfort when swallowing.

Fortunately it only took our son 4 days to get over it.

Your child can get it at daycare, at sunday school, at a friend's house whose child also has it, at the grocery store, at the mall, at the playground... wherever other children are. Your child can hold hands with another kid who has it, and then touch his eye, nose or mouth... and get it. It's a virus, like the cold or the flu and is transmitted the same way.

I hope your son feels better soon! For you and your husband - don't take a chance that you have immunity. Take great care to wash your hands often, not to give him too many kisses (but hugs will help him feel better!) and just get through it.

Hand, foot and mouth is highly contagious. Usually found in daycare centres where everything is in the mouth. As a daycare provider I have never had it in my house but had a boy that had reoccuring bouts from his daycare centre. Mother pulled him out after the third time and brought him to me. He never had a reoccurence again. I think he went on an antibiotic to get rid of it. Wash everything that he puts in his mouth. Good luck.

My youngest son (now 3) contracted this when he was 10 months old. My husband, myself, nor my oldest son (who was 3 at the time) contracted it. My pedi. gave us a "home" remidy that REALLY helped. Take 1 tsp. of benadril and 1 tsp. of Mylanta. Mix together & apply to your son's mouth & lips. It helped! Take into consideration my son was 10 months old at the time I did this so if your son is any younger, I would ask his dr.

My oldest son had it, we are not sure where he got it from, because no one he was around had it. I know the dr told me that it can be spread to my youngest son and anyone else around him including adults. They put him on a med. and it cleared up, no one else in our house got it. It does hurt and is very iritating to them. I hope this helps you.

My son had it a couple of months ago. No, I did not get it nor did my husband. We washed our hands like crazy and I kept my son away from other children for the first few days. I know that it looks painful, especially on their feet... so whenever possable let his feet breath. It will go away within a week.

My son got it a few years ago and before I knew it I shared a toothbrush with him. Not a good thing to start with but needless to say I got it. It is very painful. Not quite as bad as strep (which i have right now) but still painful. His throat will hurt a lot and also his feet and hands. The little bumps that are under the skin feel (when there is pressure on them) like needles hitting your nerves. It is very uncomforable and not fun. They say that adult hardly ever get it but if you share something withy them, drink, food, toothbrush, or anything that contains saliva then you will get it. My new thing is not to share anything with my kids any more. Good Luck and just remember that it doesn't last forever! Also, don't give him anything citrus, like OJ. it burns. And it is also more comfortable not to have shoes on. It is also passed by poor hand washing after diapering.If a child had HFM and an adult doesn't wash their hand and changes another childs diaper or even takes care of then without washing their hand it will spead. I hope that this helps!

it went around my daughters mothers day out earlier this year. She just got one blister in each place, so it did not really bother her. Nobody else in our house got it, but some siblings do pass it back and forth.

J.,

My son had hand, foot and mouth disease about a year ago. I have to admit it was not the most pleasent experience. If you son develops the blisters in this mouth they will be pretty painful. However, we took some liquid antacid (like Mylanta) and applied it to a cotton swab and coated the blisters in his mouth. It seemed to help ALOT. As far as contracting it myself, neither I nor my boyfriend had a problem. Hope your son feels better and good luck.

My son (2yrs old) also got it from daycare, but my pedi also said from other things to like the grocery cart handles, toys, she did prescribe him a wonderful oral medication that she calls "pink majic" that helped with the healing and pinfulness of the blisters that made it tolerable for him to eat. Hope your little one gets better too. Noone else in my family got it. Good Luck!!

T. S.

J.,

When my son was 2½, we visited daycares because we were thinking of sending him to one. We also had a 5 month old at home. That was one week before thanksgiving. Sunday morning, my oldest wakes up with hives all over his back and is starts spreading to his torso. Of course we rush to the ER and the doctor misdiagnosed him with allergic reaction to penicillin (he was just finishing a 10 day course of antibiotics, but since I had missed a few doses, we were actually running on day 12, so I thought the antibiotics might not have been good anymore). So we go back home, nothing to do. Then, Thanksgiving day, we go to Dallas for the weekend, and that's when the fun began. My husband and I both ended up having blisters in our mouth (and trying to eat a steack at Outback Steakhouse!), on our hands, which was the least bothering part, and on our feet, making it very uncomfortable visiting the zoo. After that, my pediatrician never confirmed it was the HF&M disease... even if the adults had blisters...

Unfortunately, if it has not happened yet, you are most likely to get it too. It is not painful, just uncomfortable.

Good luck!

S.

Hi J.,
My 2 yr old son had this and I ended up getting a few sores in my mouth. It cleared up in a few days and was not as painful as uncomfortable.
Best of luck

I sent your note to an source at CDC for help. We will see what he says.

My grandson just had the same thing and got it from daycare. I almost fell over because in all my years I had never heard of humans getting this, but the Dr. said it was very common especially in young children in daycare. Very simular to trench mouth years ago. The Dr. gave my daughter some medication to give him and it really was gone pretty quickly like within a week. Just do exactly what your Dr. says. He will be fine. I find it strange though that this is popping up in daycares all of a sudden.

My 1 yr daughter contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth from Daycare as well. I have also contracted it from her from eating after her. Doctor says there not much you can do except let it run its course.

My son had contracted it from the doctors office when he was about a year old. This is a disease that usually only affects young children or kids with low immune systems. So keep him away from other kids and disenfect all toys and items that he touches until it passes. Ususally doesn't last more than two or so weeks.
My cousin gave me a book that I love, "The home pediatric book". It gives basic information on all the childrens ailments and disease up to age 10 or 12 I think. Comes in real handy when something like this pops up.
Good luck.

Yes actually both my sons had this I thought the Doc was a quack but it actually is a virus. My oldest had it first then my youngest it lasted about a week and it was gone (well the blisters had to heal) my son couldnt go to his swimming classes or anything it is contagious however my doctor said it was very unlikely that we (mom and dad) would get it but there was a chance but just keep everything sanitized and you should be ok. Hope this helps

My son had it about a year ago. It started on the palms of his hands. In the beggining i thought he was coming down with chicken pocks or somehting. He then got 2 blisters in the mouth and then he feet were covered. Took him to the doc to discover he had the same thing. We never got it nor did the other children at the baby sitters. I took maybe about 2 weeks to fully clear up

While it's possible that your child got it from daycare, it's not necessarily the only place. I have 4 children, 3 of which have had HFM, and none of them have ever seen daycare. So, there you have it. It's a very common virus, and quite contagious. And, if your child is younger than 2, can be
horrible if their mouth sores are bad. The older they are, the more they can deal with the pain...but my daughter had it when she was about 18M, and I will never forget that week as long as I live!

Good luck

Hi J. -

HFM is very common... your doctor should have told you that. Most kids do get it and often the parents don't even realize it. My son had it and it is believed that he picked it up at one of the bouncy places in town. He had never been to daycare, or babysitters, etc. Just give him extra love and affection, let him get plenty of rest and he'll be back to normal very soon! :-)