Keywords: health, disease, ‘hand, foot and mouth’, virus, enterovirus, symptoms
Children,
especially those less than 10 years old, are more to infection that adults as
their immune systems are yet to fully develop. Hand, foot and mouth disease
infection is one such infection.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is
a contagious infection that
can cause an epidemic. The outbreak can be so severe it can force schools to
close until the epidemic subsides.
The disease is a common infectious illness among children and the
symptoms are mild fever, rashes accompanied by blisters and sores in the mouth.
The illness generally begins with fever, accompanied by poor appetite, a
feeling of being unwell and, usually, a sore throat.
The
virus behind the disease is those that belong to the enterovirus group. The most common viral strain
that cause hand, foot and mouth disease is Coxsackie A16. Hand, foot and mouth
disease should not be confused with the foot and mouth disease of cattle. They
are not related and are caused by different viruses.
This disease can be highly contagious. It spreads through direct
contact with the mucus, saliva, fluid from blisters or feces of an infected
person. Contact with unwashed, virus-contaminated hands, facilitates the spread
of the virus. A person is most contagious in the first week of the illness.
Be cautious, the virus can remain in an infected person’s body
for weeks even after the symptoms are gone. Thus, a child who was previously
infected will become a carrier and still infect other children even if he or
she appears well. Humans cannot be infected from animals.
Some may not manifest the symptoms, but may still transmit the
virus to others. And although a person can develop immunity after being
infected, he or she may suffer the infection again because there are other
strains of the virus.
There is no specific treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease
yet. The only treatments available only provide relief from the symptoms. You
can reduce your risk of infection by practicing good hygiene, such as washing
your hands often. Antibiotics are not effective against this disease as it is
caused by virus. People who have hand, foot and mouth disease usually recover
within 7-10 days. Complications are uncommon.
