A spike in cases of a very contagious
disease, a virus known as hand foot and
mouth disease. Pat Warren explains how
children get it and how its treated. Hand
foot and mouth disease is a mild viral
infection common in young children, but
adults can get it too.
Hand foot mouth disease is a really
common summertime illness. This is caused
by a virus and it will cause blisters in
the mouth and on the hands and on the
feet. It's ordinarily not serious, but the
blisters in the mouth can be very
painful and make it hard to keep
hydrated. You want to make sure that
you're doing lots of good pain control
to keep drinking. If you don't drink well,
then you'll get dehydrated. Dehydration
is what can really harm you with this
illness. So as long as the kids are
drinking well, then you'll be able to
even treat this at home and not even
have to go to the doctor. Hand foot and
mouth disease can cause all or just some
of these symptoms: fever, sore throat,
feeling unwell, blisters, and rash. The
first three days, there might be a fever.
Don't panic over the fever. Fever is your
body's friend. And then it will help you
fight off the illness better. Use pain
control with ibuprofen or acetaminophen
to try to control the fever and control
the pain so kids can keep drinking. It's
important to keep hands and surfaces
clean. There isn't any medicines to treat
hand foot mouth. This will run its own
course, your body will get over it in
seven to ten days. If you can't get your
child to drink enough to stay hydrated
or if after a few days the condition
gets worse instead of better then it's
time to call a doctor. I'm Pat Warren
reporting for WJZ, now back to you. The
virus has spread similarly to a cold or
a flu.
