Virus mouth, hands and feet: symptoms, treatment and prevention in children

The mouth, hands and feet disease, is produced by the virus called Coxsackie A16. From a medical point of view it is also known by the name of viral rash of hands, mouth and feet, It is a contagious disease that occurs in the childhood stage, even so, both children and something older as adolescents and adults can also get it.

It is common that this disease affects especially children ranging in age from infants to children under 5 years, although it is common that it also affects children between 5 to 10 years. It has more prevalence during the spring and autumn seasons. For example, it tends to be very common its infection almost massively in nurseries and nursery schools, as with other similar contagious diseases.

In fact, this stage of life is the stage in which children are still developing their autoimmune system so they are more vulnerable to the attack of viruses.

This disease usually occurs mildly normally, and very rarely presents complications, usually contagious people usually recover within the period comprised between 7 and 10 days.

It is easily detected only through the physical examination the doctor diagnoses the disease.

Symptoms of mouth, hand and foot virus

The symptoms of the virus mouth, hands, feet, do not appear all together, are presented in stages, and even from one person to another can vary the symptoms and not present all the symptoms.

Some people may get the disease without presenting any symptoms, however they can spread or spread the disease to other healthy people. However, when the symptoms appear they usually do it between 3 to 7 days after coming into contact with the virus. The most common are the following:

Sensation of general malaise.
Febrícula or fever.
Lack of appetite.
Sore throat.
Sores in the mouth.
Red spots like rashes that can appear in different areas of the body such as: around the mouth, on arms and feet, on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, on the buttocks, knees and on the genitals.
Blisters, or sores.

How is the treatment?

For this disease there is no specific treatment or vaccine, the treatment that doctors or pediatricians prescribe are anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen) to reduce both inflammation, pain or general malaise.

It is important that sick people stay well hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration, by losing body fluids.

In the case of children, we should encourage them to drink liquids because when they have mouth sores they are very annoying and try not to take them.

How is it spread and where are the viruses?

As we have said before, the disease is contagious especially in the first 7 days.

However, it sometimes happens that even after several weeks after the symptoms and illness have passed, these people can still infect other people.

In the respiratory tract (nose, mouth, lungs) the virus can last and spread in the period from the first week to the third and in the feces it remains for weeks or months from the beginning of the disease.

The virus in infected people is lodged in different parts of the body: in the saliva, in the mucus of the nose, secretions of the throat (sputum), in the poop, in the fluid of the blisters or sores.

It is mainly a disease that is spread by air and direct contact such as: through kisses and hugs, when there is coughing or sneezing, you do share utensils such as cutlery or glasses, share contaminated toys, play on contaminated surfaces (floors), when the blisters come out of the liquid.

This disease could suffer more than once, presenting a second episode if the disease occurs with a different variety of the virus Coxsackie so we can say that there is no immunity.

How can we prevent the disease?

Below we detail the hygiene measures that we must carry out:

Frequent hand washing with plenty of water and soap when going to the bathroom, when we change diapers, when we blow or remove mucus from small children.
Use disposable paper tissues.
Frequent washing of the hands with plenty of water and soap for the little ones.
Cleaning utensils used by the sick person such as, cutlery, glasses or objects.
Do not share the utensils of the sick person.
Avoid kisses, hugs.
Avoid touching the eyes, mouth, nose, especially if we have not washed our hands.
Cleaning and disinfection of toys, floors, door handles or any other object that has been handled by sick people.

As we have said before, we can not prevent this disease with a vaccine, but maintaining good hygiene measures will help us prevent it and reduce the risk of infection. This article is published for informational purposes only. You can not and should not replace the consultation with a Pediatrician. We advise you to consult your trusted pediatrician. ThemesDiseases in babies and children