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According to the CDC, cases of hand diseases, foot-and-mouth disease and foot-and-mouth disease are common in the spring, summer and fall. @Finnerty_Meghan [email protected]
Meghan Finnerty

Classical ampoules associated with hand-foot-mouth disease (Photo: Center for Disease Control and Prevention photo)

Disease it did not come to her mind the first time that Kailee Petro saw the red marks on her toddler's skin

She thought that it was eczema and took away his daughter at daycare was hand, foot and mouth

Over the next five months, Brynlee would receive twice as much hand, foot and mouth. his father also fell with blisters on his hands and tongue that he described as feeling like needle bites.

"I really hope it's the last one. I'm fed up," said Petro, a nurse who lives on the Southside and who has just disinfected her home one more time after Brynlee's last fight. "We continue to have that hand, that foot and that mouth over and over again … It starts with a point. "

The Syndrome was recently in the news when New York Met Noah Syndergaard was placed on the disabled list after contracting the hand, foot and mouth after volunteering at a youth camp

What is hand, food and the mouth?

More common in summer, the syndrome of hands, feet and mouth – whose name is usually found on the body – is caused by a number of enteroviruses, an important group that includes the polio virus.

These microbes are found in the gastrointestinal tract and can also cause gastric distress, experts say. Or, they may go unnoticed.

"The most common is that they do not manifest themselves at all," said Dr. John Christenson, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the s ante at Riley hospital worldwide. Children.

It is not known why these viruses circulate more in the warmer months. One of the reasons could be that other viruses such as the flu and respiratory viruses are more dominant in the colder months, ousting these viruses, said Christenson.

Although this summer may seem worse than others, says Christenson, it did not seem unusual for the hands, feet and mouth.

"It's coming and going. Some summers are more active than others, "he said.

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Daycares take precautions, but " everyone seems to have it "

Most years Alexis Yoo, pediatric nurse at the Community Health Network, does not see an influx of cases until just after school begins in mid-August, but Yoo, who works at Eastside MedCheck, added that she has seen a few cases recently.

And those on the front line of the daycare, say that they see more cases.

Last week, many of the youngest children, "said Carah Cruse, director of childcare

"This is not the first time we've seen it, but we've seen it a lot for a month or so," she says. "It seems that when it passes through the rooms of infants and toddlers, everyone seems to have it."

For this reason, Cruse and his colleagues take even one case seriously, checking other children for symptoms, alerting parents. a suspicious case, a thorough cleaning, and ask parents to keep their sick children at home while the symptoms persist.

'You panic with every little bump & # 39;

Because Brynlee Day Care is following similar precautions She has been away for at least a week.

Now, says Petro, every place she sees on the body of her child strikes fear. One day this week, Brynlee woke up and had a red dot on her cheek. Petro feared the worst but in a few hours the mark was gone.

"You panic with every little bump that comes on her body because you just do not know it," she says.

About a month ago, Brandi Pahl's two five-year-old sons came home with the virus, one after the other. Both developed fever, one had itchy hands and feet and the other complained of a sore throat, another common symptom.

Pahl and her husband both missed work a few days before being allowed to return to daycare.

"It was very embarrassing," she said

Symptoms and How to Treat It

There are not many parents who can offer children who are suffering. Yoo recommends ice lollies to soothe blisters in the throat, cold wash cloths for those on their bodies, fever reducers to lower their temperature.

In most cases, the virus just has to run its course, Christenson said. But sometimes the virus can cause the occurrence of meningeal encephalitis, in which case a child may require hospitalization.

Hygiene and isolation are the best ways to prevent hand, foot and mouth. until their symptoms are resolved. But children can transmit the virus even before the symptoms appear and some people can transmit the virus without having symptoms themselves.

Enteroviruses can also spread in pits, Christenson warns, and often begin when an infected baby gets into the water. There is no protection

While the polio vaccine protects against the virus responsible for this disease, children in the United States do not benefit from any protection against viruses hands, feet and mouth. 71, which is more common there and can lead to serious or even fatal cases of the hand, foot and mouth. Although there is a current epidemic in Beijing, EV71 is only responsible for a small minority of cases.

In the United States, the Coxsackie virus causes most cases of the hand, foot and mouth, according to the Centers for Disease Control. and Prevention. Earlier this summer, however, health officials issued an alert, telling providers to monitor cases caused by EV71, Christenson said.

However, with several viruses that can cause hand, foot and mouth, hand, foot and mouth.

Your best shot, said Christenson: "You should hide your kids in the closet and leave them there all year. It's very difficult to do.

Call Shari Rudavsky, staff reporter for IndyStar, at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.

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