Parents, please pay attention! Watch out for these symptoms in the high incidence period of hand foot mouth disease
In the turn of spring and summer, the temperature is getting higher and higher, the incidence of hand foot mouth disease is also showing an upward trend, and the risk of a cluster epidemic in crowded places such as schools and kindergartens is increasing. Experts suggest that parents and teachers should pay more attention to the symptoms of children's hands, feet, mouth and other parts, and timely seek medical advice in case of abnormalities.
Watch out for hand foot mouth disease in spring and summer
Hand foot mouth disease (HFMD) is a common acute infectious disease in children aged 5 years and under caused by a variety of enteroviruses. It can occur all year round, with the peak in spring and summer from April to July and the peak in autumn from September to November.
Guo Xin, Deputy Chief Physician of Infectious Medicine Department of Beijing Children's Hospital: Through some clues to early detection, you can carefully observe the children's oral cavity and skin mucosa. Usually, the typical symptom is that the hands, feet, and children's small farts may appear red spots. After 3-5 days of incubation period, children may have low fever, mouth salivation, sore throat, or such rashes on hands, feet or buttocks in the early stage. If such symptoms occur, parents must be aware that children may suffer from hand, foot and mouth disease.
It is understood that hand foot mouth disease takes about 2-10 days from infection to symptoms, with an average of 3-5 days. The clinical manifestations are mainly fever, herpes in oral mucosa, maculopapules and herpes in hands, feet and buttocks, and may be accompanied by cough, runny nose, lack of appetite and other symptoms. Children usually have mild symptoms, which are self limited, and have a good prognosis. They can fully recover after 7-10 days.
The rash of hand foot mouth disease is characterized by no scab or scar
Experts said that hand, foot and mouth disease can cause rashes on the cheek mucosa of children's mouth, including the surface of the tongue, soft palate, and even tonsils, as well as on the hands and feet. Some children can also cause rashes on the elbows, upper arms, buttocks, thighs, and knees. Some parents will worry about whether these rashes will leave scars for their children after they are accidentally broken? Listen to the experts' answers ↓
Guo Xin, Deputy Chief Physician of Infectious Medicine Department of Beijing Children's Hospital: Because the herpes of hand foot mouth disease is relatively small, and the blister fluid is not very rich, it will not leave scars or scabs, as long as it disappears by itself. In case of a rash caused by some special serotypes, its area and scope may be relatively large, and fingernails may fall off around 2 to 4 weeks of the course of the disease. Don't worry about this situation, and it can recover normally in 1 to 2 months. Hand foot mouth disease is characterized by no pain, no itching, no scab, no scar.
Experts remind that parents are advised to take children to the hospital in time when these situations occur.
Guo Xin, Deputy Chief Physician of Department of Internal Medicine of Infection, Beijing Children's Hospital:
The children are relatively young, especially those under three years old;
The body temperature is continuously high, higher than 38.5 ℃, and the effect of reducing fever is not good;
If there are mental weakness, lethargy, pale complexion, sweating, cold hands and feet, and small wrinkles on the skin, it will indicate that the child's condition has worsened.
Generally, it is within one to five days of the course of the disease. If the disease goes downhill, the parents should see a doctor in time and be hospitalized if necessary.
The key points of home nursing care for hand foot mouth disease with various transmission routes
It is reported that both patients and those with latent infection can be the source of infection of HFMD, with a large proportion of latent infection. The patient is infectious before the onset, and usually has the strongest infectivity within one week after the onset.
HFMD can be transmitted in various ways and easily. The main mode of transmission is close contact. It is infected by direct contact with patients' feces, herpes fluid, nasopharyngeal secretions, saliva, and contaminated hands, towels, handkerchiefs, tooth cups, toys, tableware, baby bottles, bed supplies and other objects or environments; It can also be spread through respiratory droplets, such as coughing, sneezing, etc; Drinking or eating virus contaminated water and food can also be infected. Experts advise parents to pay attention to the following points when caring for children at home.
Guo Xin, Deputy Chief Physician of Department of Internal Medicine of Infection, Beijing Children's Hospital:
Even if the child does not eat, he should also drink more water, because the repeated high fever will lead to more non overt water loss.
For family care, we do not recommend to use mouthwash and disinfectant for oral care. You can use clear water or normal saline for mouth care.
We should actively treat symptomatic fever. We often use antipyretic drugs in our daily life, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen. For children, we should avoid using aspirin.
Ensure the child's rest and let him recover fully.
In addition, experts suggest that children should not be taken to public places where people gather and the air circulation is poor during the prevalence of HFMD. In order to play a protective role as soon as possible, children are encouraged to complete the whole process of vaccination before the age of 12 months. Vaccination is not recommended for children over 5 years old.
