Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

I took my son into see the doctor yesterday b/c he had blisters on his hands and mouth. Turns out he has hand, foot and mouth desease, and the doctor said he most likely got it from daycare. Any one else's child even had this? And if they have did you contract it also?

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

Jennifer,

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 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.

It is very contagious and passed child to child. I have never seen an adult get it and I never got it, and my daughter had it twice. :) Do be careful if your child is in contact with other children as far as passing it along. We never had a severe case so hopefully your son will get over it fairly quickly. good luck.
corina

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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

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

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!

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.

Jennifer,

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!

Sonia

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.
Patricia
Helotes, Tx

Hi Jennifer,
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

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!