Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease on the Rise – Experts Beg Parents to Learn the Warning Signs
A new disease of the hands, mouth, and feet is on the rise! Experts are urging parents to learn the warning signs!
Kids are super vulnerable to colds and viruses. Just this year, a newly discovered illness is on the rise! The suddenly erupted health epidemic has parents baffled! They call the disease the Hand-foot-mouth disease. While Hand-Foot-And-Mouth disease is primarily found in Asia, in 2012, the State of Alabama released a warning that the virus was becoming more numerous in the area. Many speculate the virus was carried to the USA by travelers to various Asian countries who hadn’t realized they’d contracted it.
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus called an enterovirus. The virus spreads easily through coughing and sneezing. It can also spread through infected stool, such as when you change a diaper or when a young child gets stool on his or her hands and then touches objects that other children put in their mouths. Often the disease breaks out within a community. It usually takes 3 to 6 days for a person to get symptoms of the hand-foot-and-mouth disease after being exposed to the virus. This is called the incubation period. Symptoms of the disease include fever, sore throat, and fatigue. You will eventually start to see the growth of sores or blisters in or around the mouth, hands, or feet. You may also see the blisters around the buttocks.
A doctor can tell if your child has the hand-foot-and-mouth disease by the symptoms you describe and by looking at the sores and blisters. Tests usually aren’t needed. There are several different ways to treat the disease. It is important to make sure your child has plenty of cool fluids. This aids in hydration and soothes a sore throat. They should not ingest spicy foods and drinks. It is important that you do not give aspirin to your child, as it has been linked to Reye Syndrome. Children are most likely to spread the disease during the first week of the illness.