Hand, foot and mouth disease
| Hand, foot and mouth disease Classification and external resources | |
 | |
|---|---|
| Typical lesions around the mouth of an 11 month old male | |
| ICD-10 | B08.4 |
| ICD-9 | 074.3 |
| DiseasesDB | 5622 |
| MedlinePlus | 000965 |
| eMedicine | derm/175 |
| MeSH | D006232 |
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a human syndrome caused by intestinal viruses of the Picornaviridae family. The most common strains causing HFMD are Coxsackie A virus and Enterovirus 71 (EV71).[1]
HFMD usually affects infants and children, and is quite common. It is moderately contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. It typically occurs in small epidemics in nursery schools or kindergartens, usually during the summer and autumn months. The usual incubation period is 3–7 days.
It is extremely uncommon in adults; however, still a possibility. Most adults have strong enough immune systems to defeat the virus, but those with immune deficiencies are very susceptible. HFMD is not to be confused with foot-and-mouth disease (also called hoof-and-mouth disease), which is a disease affecting sheep, cattle, and swine, and which is unrelated to HFMD (but also caused by a member of the Picornaviridae family).
|
|
Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of HFMD include: [2]
- Fever
- Headache
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Malaise
- Sore throat
- Painful oral lesions
- Non-itchy body rash, followed by sores with blisters on palms of hands and soles of feet
- Oral ulcer
- Sores or blisters may be present on the buttocks of small children and infants
- Irritability in infants and toddlers
- Loss of appetite.
- Diarrhea
The common incubation period (the time between infection and onset of symptoms) is from three to seven days.
Early symptoms are likely to be fever often followed by a sore throat. Loss of appetite and general malaise may also occur. Between one and two days after the onset of fever, painful sores (lesions) may appear in the mouth and/or throat. A rash may become evident on the hands, feet, and occasionally the buttocks (but generally, the rash on the buttocks will be caused from the diarrhea.) Not all symptoms will be present in all cases.
Treatment
There is no specific treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease. Individual symptoms, such as fever and pain from the sores, may be eased with the use of medication. HFMD is a viral disease that has to run its course; many doctors do not issue medicine for this illness, unless the infection is severe. Infection in older children, adolescents, and adults is normally very mild and lasts around 1 week or sometimes more. Fever reducers will help to control high temperatures. Luke-warm baths will also help bring temperature down.
Only a very small minority of sufferers require hospital admission, mainly as a result of neurological complications (encephalitis, meningitis, or acute flaccid paralysis) or pulmonary edema/pulmonary hemorrhage
Recorded outbreaks
 |
Wikinews has related news: Highly contagious Hand, foot and mouth disease killing China's children |
- In 1997, 34 children died in an outbreak in Sarawak, Malaysia[3].
- In 1998, there was an outbreak in Taiwan, affecting mainly children.[4] There were 405 severe complications, and 78 children died.[5] The total number of cases in that epidemic is estimated to have been 1.5 million.[5]
2006
- In 2006, 7 people died in an outbreak in Kuching, Sarawak (according to the New Straits Times, March 14)]][3].
- In 2006, after an outbreak of Chikungunya in southern and some western parts of India, cases of HFMD were reported. [6]
2008
- An outbreak in China, beginning in March in Fuyang, Anhui, lead to 25,000 infections, and 42 deaths, by May 13.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Similar outbreaks were reported in Singapore (more than 2,600 cases as of April 20, 2008)[1], Vietnam (2,300 cases, 11 deaths)[14], Mongolia (1,600 cases)[15], and Brunei (1053 cases from June - August 2008) [16]
2009
In China, another outbreak in April 2009, has so far lead to 15 deaths in the east of the country in the city of Heze and in the province of Shandong.So far the Shandong Provincial Health Department has reported 5,770 cases of the contagious disease in Heze as of Saturday.Of the 5,770 ,341 cases still remain as severe while 4,549 have been deemed recovered.Health authorities have ordered to timely report any outbreaks of the disease and to increase disinfection sprays at hospitals and other health care buildings. On Friday a health ministry official have said that so far this year (since 7/4/2009) 50 people have died and more 115,000 cases have been reported. But most of the cases were only in rural areas where the population is sparse and nearly 80 percent of the total were in 10 provinces and autonomous regions including Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi and Zhejiang.[17]
- In Indonesia there were reports of this disease in the capital Jakarta and it's outskirt. One of the first reported case was eight children aged one to four years old have been infected[18]. Indonesians and it's mass media colloquially knows the flu as Singaporean influenza or flu Singapura[19]. It is unclear how this came to be, but the term Singaporean flu is most common and mostly used in Indonesian hospitals and media. Nevertheless, towards the end of April health agencies in Jakarta has warned community health centers and preventive steps were socialized towards citizens. Including not choosing Singapore as travel destinations and installing thermal scanners within major Airports in Indonesia.[20]
댓글