hand, foot and mouth disease

[HappyLady]

A friend of mine was suppose to come over with her kids on Friday, but her youngest woke up with a high temp so we decided to make it this Friday instead. She said, "Oh I hope he doesn't get hand, foot and mouth disease because the children I watched this week all had it." So apparently she was going to come over knowing that any one of them could be carriers. :001_huh:

 

I emailed her today to ask if her son did in fact get it and she said he did, but she was "all set to come over Friday." Um, I'm assuming that's not a good idea, right? From everything I've read online the disease lasts about a week. He'd most likely be over it by Friday, but shouldn't we wait to make sure no one else in her family is going to come down with it?

 

I don't know if I'm overreacting or not. I honestly never heard of this and certainly don't want my kids catching it, but I know I can't keep them in a bubble. I also read that it could take months for it to get out of someone's system, but I don't know if that means they're still contagious all that time or not.

 

My kids have never had anything more severe than a runny nose (they're 4.5 and 1.5) and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Can anyone enlighten me on this disease?

[Alison in KY]

Avoid it at all costs! I got it from somewhere, don't know where, and ended up with 10 canker-sore like blisters in my mouth. I had to take a narcotic pain killer. I didn't feel sick, but I was in a lot of pain. Just after I got over it, dd came down with it. She couldn't talk much at all for several days. Dh got it and didn't have it as bad. Stay far, far away. And yes, it hangs around for awhile. I'd want everyone to be well for a week before I saw them!

 

mmmhmm, it's terrible. My first 2 got it and it wasn't bad at all, but when ds and I got it, we had those same terrible inner mouth blisters. We had to swish our mouth out with a numbing agent just to get a bit of relief, that was the only thing that helped...didn't talk, barely ate or drank for days.

 

Alison

[Education Explorers]

I am clearly not a doctor, but I have had more experience with this virus than I wish. The coxsackie virus is a HUGE family of viruses. True hand foot and mouth disease is just one branch of this particularly nasty family of viruses. Coxsackie viruses are characterized by the canker sores all in the mouth and throat, fever etc. True hand foot and mouth disease is typically more severe and has the tell-tale rash and the hands and feet.

 

AVOID EXPOSURE TO THIS AT ALL COSTS!

 

My dd had H,F & M when she was a toddler. She was sick as a dog for 10 days. We had to go to the ER to ensure that her throat was still open because she would not swallow. She was on Tylenol 3 with Codeine for a week because the pain was that bad. My husband then got it and was out of work for a week. He was beyond miserable. He lost 10 pounds with this virus. (To me that would be the only silver lining. :lol:) Luckily I had H,F & M when I was a teen, so I didn't get it.

 

My son has had several variations of the coxsackie, but he has never had true H, F & M so at least it wasn't as severe. My dd has had several other coxsackie illnesses, but never as severe as when it was H, F & M.

 

I personally feel that as parents, we inadvertently infect other people's children enough as it is. To knowingly expose someone is the height of rudeness and thoughtlessness. I would be furious if someone did this to our family.

[HappyLady]

 

 

Germs are everywhere. Isolating yourself does more harm than good in the long run.

 

 

 

Believe me, my kids play in the dirt and all sorts of things. I'm definitely not one of those moms that tries to keep them germ free. But it seems like the moms in my circle don't ever seem to care that their kids could get mine sick. One of the last playdates we went on the one little boy had the stomach flu. The mom didn't tell me until AFTER we left her house. :glare: And I've had something like this happen about 2 or 3 other times where I meetup with a mom and her kids only to find out her kids have "this" or "that." Thankfully my kids have never caught anything these kids have had, but I would never willingly let them hang out with a sick kid. And why these moms think it's ok to expose my kids is beyond me.

 

This particular disease scares me because of how severe it sounds so I'm definitely keeping my family away from my friend's for a good, long time. :D

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

My niece and nephew had it and it was horrible. Don't let them come over. I'm not afraid of germs, either, but you don't want any chance of your kids getting that if you can help it.

[aliall]

Avoid it! We have had it in the house for the last two weeks (why can't they get it all at once?), and from what I have read it is contagious for at least a week (possible in the stool for a month or more).

 

This year's strain is pretty bad:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-04-19/hand-foot-mouth-virus/54419854/1

 

My kids had high fevers (pushing 105*) and their throats and mouths were so painful. The blisters are painful too and are an additional source of contagion (along with airborne and fecal sources).:ack2:

[claire+3]

There was an outbreak of this at our local Y this past winter and my two year old caught it. She ran a 104 fever for about 36 hours and then broke out with the sores 2-3 days later. The worst sores were actually in her diaper area. It took 4 weeks for one in particular to heal. Then my DS7 got it too, which is according to the Ped. unusual. He said (usually) this particular strain only affects children under five. Well his fever was so high, he had fever dreams and hallucinations. Scared the %%%% out of us. He had open sores in his throat which made it nearly impossible to swallow. He lost about four pounds and he is already quite slim. He was miserable!!! And so were we!

If you can, I would stay as far away as possible. This is the nastiest bug my children have ever had. According to our ped., it is HIGHLY contagious and the virus sheds in the infected person's stool for up to 3-4 weeks after the sore outbreak.

I canceled playdates and get togethers for weeks afterwards. I wouldn't wish this bug on my worst enemy's kids, let alone a friend.

[momtothreeboys]

I would avoid the playdate. We've had several versions of this as I guess there are many different viruses that cause this. Getting one doesn't make immune to the rest. We've had kids hospitalized for this because they won't eat or drink and get themselves so dehydrated.

[Dustybug]

I'm another vote for avoid it! My oldest had it when she was only 3 and it was horrid! The blisters in her mouth were so bad, I couldn't brush her teeth for over a week because she was in so much pain. She wouldn't eat and she'd only drink anything if I first numbed her mouth with Benadryl. She was so pitiful. :(

[swellmomma]

When ds had it last halloween we were told to keep him away from other children for 3 weeks, he missed all his extracurrics, all his friends and a camp. He was allowed to T or T because at his age he knew to keep his mouth and hands covered and not touch anything, the dr said it was fine, just no going into the houses etc. It is extremely contagious. We spent a lot of time sterilizing the house when ds got it and thankfully none of the other kids did, just him.

 

Ds13 was an exception to the rule according to the doctor, usually once a child is schoolaged unless they have a weakened immune system it is very rare for them to get it. For him to get it at 13 was virtually unheard of.

[swellmomma]

I'd just wait and see how he is.

 

 

Germs are everywhere. Isolating yourself does more harm than good in the long run.

 

All my kids had this by 6.

 

Yes germs are everywhere but that doesn't mean you don't take reasonable precautions to avoid certain ones. I immunize for measles for example, we wash hands and cook meat to avoid e.coli, we isolate to prevent/avoid things like hand foot and mouth. That is not the same as forcing your child into a plastic bubble. HER kids can go out and play and have other people, she can chosing not to bring a contagious person into her home which would cause a considerable amount of extra work on her part and infect her kids. Big difference imo.

[Ellesmere]

I don't think you are overreacting. It isn't always serious but it can be. We don't live in a bubble but I would avoid exposure if I knew ahead of time. FWIW, I had it as a kid and it wasn't awful in my case. Obviously, it can be quite severe, though.

 

It sounds like she might not understand infectious diseases and genuinely doesn't see a problem. I always assumed people knew but I've been proven wrong about that.

 

I personally feel that as parents, we inadvertently infect other people's children enough as it is. To knowingly expose someone is the height of rudeness and thoughtlessness. I would be furious if someone did this to our family.

:iagree: only not with a smiley face. I am still struggling with my feelings after someone knowingly exposed us to a serious, highly contagious illness. And they knew that we have family members with weakened immune systems. Had they not known their child was ill and has spread it to others already, I would have been fine but they knew and went to great lengths to hide it.

[tex-mex]

I would avoid the playdate. We've had several versions of this as I guess there are many different viruses that cause this. Getting one doesn't make immune to the rest. We've had kids hospitalized for this because they won't eat or drink and get themselves so dehydrated.

:iagree:

[NotSoObvious]

Do not let them come over!!! You are not overreacting at all.

 

You don't live in a bubble. This is different.

[ForeverFamily]

Hand foot and mouth actually can be contagious for a couple of weeks. With hand foot and mouth you can get a high fever and sore throat, followed by red dots all over that kind of look like chicken pox (you get them on the palms of your hands, bottom of your feet, etc.). The little red spots then turn into blisters and eventually your skin starts peeling (yuck, I know). They are basically little pockets of virus so when those blisters break they can still spread the virus. Unfortunately our family recently had his virus work its way through our family and it was one of the strangest and most miserable diseases we have had. Usually only younger kids get the disease (but apparently I am weird enough to have caught this pediatric disease myself:tongue_smilie:and believe me it was not fun!) So I say avoid it if you can, and give your friend's family at least a week or two to get over it.