Hand, Foot, And Mouth Disease In Children

[MAC10]

There is a breakout of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Isarn. I was in the hospital with a kid today that has it, Mostly it effects children up to 5 years old and is highly contagious.

Typically it will present with a fever and a fussy kid. Then it can develop into something resembling chicken pox on the hands and feet and mouth with open ulcers in the mouth. The mouth sores and associated stomach ache can cause kids to stop eating and stop drinking so people with kids who are skinny for whatever reason should keep a good eye out for problems.

While this is rarely fatal in healthy toddlers it is very dangerous if you have a baby in the house as its very dangerous for babies less than one year old. It can also be contagious for 14 days after all symptoms are relieved according to some information I have found. I'm providing a link to the Mayo Clinic and what they have to say about this.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hand-foot...disease/DS00599

Mods, Normally I would post this in the health section but I doubt any of the people who do not have sick kids already will be reading there, thus my posting here in the Isarn forum as a service announcement to forum members.

[MAC10]

Just Found This!

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Highly_contagi...na%27s_children

Highly contagious Hand, foot and mouth disease killing China's childrenMonday, March 30, 2009

41,846 reported cases and 18 children's deaths have arisen from Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) as reported by the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China for the first three months of 2009. The majority of infected children are under the age of five years old. No vaccine is available for this disease.

The highly infectious disease has spread across 30 provinces and regions of China. Heze city alone has registered 1,734 cases, 440 of which came in last Friday. Five babies here died from HFMD just last week.

Henan province has registered seven dead children and 4,761 HFMD cases. Shandong has reported five children dead from HFMD and 3,280 cases to deal with.

HFMD can start from a variety of viruses of which Enterovirus 71 (EV-71) is the most common, followed by the Coxsackie A virus (Cox A16). There is an Incubation period from time of contact to appearance of symptoms between three to seven days.

HFMD warning signs begin with a small fever and then lesions and blisters around the mouth and rashes on the feet and hands.

Deng Haihua, Ministry of Health spokesperson, expects the disease to reach its height between May and July.

Yang Weizhong Deputy Director for the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said researchers are increasing research efforts to find a vaccine for EV71.

Families are being instructed to embark on week-long disinfections with free medical supplies from local health authorities.

[MAC10]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/...nt_11086090.htm

18 children die of hand-foot-mouth disease in China

2009-03-27 21:47:12

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Hand-foot-mouth disease has claimed the lives of 18 Chinese children so far this year, as the disease has spread across the country, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

The ministry recorded 41,846 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease in 30 provinces and regions, except in Tibet, in the past three months, ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said.

About 94 percent of the patients were children under five years old, 75 percent were affected by the virus EV71, and 94 suffered severe symptoms, Deng told a press conference in Beijing.

Compared with the figures last year, the outbreak of the disease seemed to come early. The number of the hand-foot-mouth cases was still increasing, and would reach its peak from May to July, he said.

The disease reportedly infected more than 500,000 children in China last year and killed almost 200, China Daily reported Wednesday.

The disease had spread to a wider area, mainly in rural areas, Deng said, adding that a fifth of the cases reported this year were in central Henan Province and eastern Shandong Province.

He said the disease is highly contagious among children and spread easily in the underdeveloped areas with poor health care facilities and weaker public awareness.

From Jan. 1 to March 26, Henan reported 4,761 cases with seven children dead and Shandong reported 3,280 cases with five children dead.

Yang Weizhong, deputy-director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Chinese researchers are speeding up their efforts in developing vaccine targeting EV71 virus.

The hand-foot-mouth disease has the highest incidence rate among children under three years old. The virus is usually transmitted through digestive and respiratory systems, or through intimate contact, and starts with a slight fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on the hands and feet.

Children who contracted EV71 often show serious symptoms. The virus could also lead to meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edemaand paralysis in some children.

[lukey1979]

I appreciate your good intentions but i must add that before you whip the community up into a whirlwind of hysteria that good ol fashioned Chicken Pox is doing the rounds at the moment, My 3 kids have had it in the past couple of weeks and they are now hunky dory. Same symptoms and we live in Isarn.

Do you get out much by any chance??

[MAC10]

I appreciate your good intentions but i must add that before you whip the community up into a whirlwind of hysteria that good ol fashioned Chicken Pox is doing the rounds at the moment, My 3 kids have had it in the past couple of weeks and they are now hunky dory. Same symptoms and we live in Isarn.

Do you get out much by any chance??

Yes, I get out often. This is not intended to whip anyone into a frenzy but to let people who are interested have some information. If you take this lightly that's your deal, not mine. I just this afternoon had a conversation with one of the best pediatricians in Thailand and he is the one who I got my facts from. My kid was sick and I took her to the hospital, we thought it was Chicken Pox and doctor said, "No, Not Chicken Pox, Its Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" so that's the story.

Did you get your kids diagnosed at a reputable hospital or some clinic? If they were not diagnosed properly they might have very well had the Hand, Foot,and Mouth Disease. Our Pediatrician informed us of the current problem as he got out papers to fill out and send to Bangkok to report the case to the Thai version of CDC. Evidently many cases go unreported and there is very little information going around about this disease. From what I understand it has been a huge problem in Thailand for a number of years and as usual nothing is being done about it.

[bina]

the toddlers dont die of the disease. what usually happens is that they dont eat and drink therefore dehydrating. most babies in israel if infected, especially in our spring and fall (when it seems to be more prevalent for whatever reason)when the weather is already very hot, end up at least getting iv fluids as an outpatient due to the dehydration aspect... very rarely are they kept for more then an overnight, and we get this as an outbreak every year in the kdis' an d baby houses on kibbutz and in most child daycare centers... every year i had mothers calling me asking for fresh unpastuerized goat's milk as a 'natural' cure, even given by doctors (havent they heard of brucellosis, prevalent here as well?)... but frankly, any goats milk does really work wonders as a mouth wash to help clear up or ease the pain of the mouth sores... ( ran the goat herd so i got all the phone calls-- the 'cure' was originally based on old timer yemenites saying they used goat milk straight from the goat for this. the other thing given is some gel to be rubbed on mouth, tongue and lips to ease the pain so the child can at least drink, if not eat.

its a fairly routine disease here; some children are more prone also, something with the immune system maybe?

chicken pox is slightly more dangerous with more complications including pneumonia.

thank god all three of mine are finished with the childhood diseases-- know its the young adult ones

bina

israel

[Dave the Dude]

Thank you bina for the clear information

It puts things in perspective well

Dave

[bina]

From what I understand it has been a huge problem in Thailand for a number of years and as usual nothing is being done about it.

i would say dengue fever would be higher on my priority list of 'nothing being done about it' quotes.

maybe there is less hand foot and mouth disease in temperate locations like europe and america and therefor many people get nervous by it, but here, it is epidemic every year; sometimes only one child in a family gets it, and reoccurences. sometimes all the young kids get it. its apparently one of several types of infections and is not related to hoof and mouth disease of bovines and caprines (cows and goats)-- although the kids or calves die from the same complication: dehydration/not being able to nurse due to pain in mouth and unable to stand on hooves. hoof and mouth disease also is a nation wide problem in many countries because it causes economic havoc , not because it is a zoonoses, for instance.

bye

bina

israel

[MJP]

Thanks very much for this. I've the daughter off school right now with a slight temperature and not too well. She's been to the local hospital, if this develops by the morning it's off to Roi-Et Hospital.

Apparently this happens every year, but I don't much about it.

Thanks again.

[soundman]

HFMD can be dangerous to infants under five years of age.

9. What are the symptoms of the HFMD?

The symptoms start with the fever (maybe with high fever on the first or second day, after that the fever may reduced for two or three more days.) There are spots or inflamed red rash in the mouth, mostly at tongue, gum, and at the bulge of the cheek, which is painful and leads to loss of appetite. At the palms, fingers, and soles, there will be red rash which will turn into transparent blisters with redness around the blisters. These blisters may be found in the other areas such as at the bottom or knees. The blisters will turn into maculo-papular vesicles. They are not itchy but is painful when being pressed. The maculo-papula vesicles will later burst and become ulcers. Patients can be recovered and the ulcers can disappear within 7 – 10 days.

In infants and young children aged under 5 years old, some may develop severe complications such as aseptic meningitis, brain stem encephalitis, pulmonary edema, cardiomyositis, cardiocirculatory failure which can be fatal. The dangerous signs are high fever and not reducing, dozily, frequent vomit, panting, limb fatigue, polio-like paralysis.

http://beid.ddc.moph.go.th/eng/index.php?o...&Itemid=137