Advice re: Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease

[nothingwithoutjoy]

At a birthday party a week ago, many of my kids were exposed. Two siblings caught it and are out today. Their mom said they'll be out tomorrow, too. Their next scheduled day is Thursday.

Any advice re how long to exclude? I read Web MD, where it says not to let kids share toys when they're infected. (As if!)

[mskaykay]

We had a huge outbreak a few months ago. We are a center of 120 and about 50 got it. The rule of thumb for us was 48 hrs fever free and all bumps scabbed over. Each case was different though and all of our families knew that if anything seemed out of the ordinary they were sent home again.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

We had a huge outbreak a few months ago. We are a center of 120 and about 50 got it. The rule of thumb for us was 48 hrs fever free and all bumps scabbed over. Each case was different though and all of our families knew that if anything seemed out of the ordinary they were sent home again.

Wow! That's a huge percentage of kids getting it! Selfishly, I'm hoping my daughter's not one of them...

Thanks for the advice.

[mskaykay]

The thing about hand foot and mouth is that kids are most contagious before symptoms show up so its hard to catch. My daughter caught it (I figure from me since all the sick kiddos had to hang in my office until their parents picked up) and it was awful. She was 8 months and I kept her out for an entire week.

[NightOwl]

Yes, by the time you realize what it is, it's already too late to prevent spreading. The contagious period occurs even before the fever. So 48 fever free and no oozing from any of the bumps.

[midaycare]

I've never dealt with h, f & m. Would someone be kind enough to tell me what to look for? I hear it is going around.

[NightOwl]

It occurs mostly in children under 5. It starts with a fever, usually a day or two, and just looks like a fever virus. So they come back to dc after the 24 hour period and THEN the little tiny blisters start to appear. I'm not sure why they call it hand,foot,mouth, because it doesn't always show up in just those places. We had a run in with it last week and my babies had the little blisters around their mouths, some on forearms, a few on their trunks and legs, on their butts and around their genitals. Only one child had a couple on his hands. Go figure. They're contagious before the fever starts and until the little blisters are scabbed over. In the worst cases, it can drag out for a couple of weeks. Oh and I've also heard it can cause body aches.

[Blackcat31]

Here are a couple handouts about HFM.

One is for the provider and one is for the parent

Here is the provider one:

http://www.hennepin.us/~/media/hennepinus/residents/health-medical/documents/1340-s6-hand-foot.pdf

Here is the one for parents:

http://www.hennepin.us/~/media/hennepinus/residents/health-medical/documents/1345-hand-foot-parent.pdf

The contagious period is during the first week of illness and possibly for several weeks after illness.
Virus may be shed for several weeks in stool.
Infected persons who may not seem sick are able to spread the virus.

[Angelsj]

Honestly, I dealt with it last year. To each his own, but I don't necessarily exclude for it. We had two get mild cases (including the original child) and no one else got it.

Like many childhood illnesses, it is contagious before you know they have it, it is a virus, so once they have it they are not generally going to get it again, and short of a child with a compromised immune system, kids usually tolerate it well.

With my particular group of kids, I did not feel there was a great risk. I did discuss it with my parents, explained the issues and got their feelings on the subject. Then decided to not exclude. YMMV.

[SilverSabre25]

dealt with it in january. One boy had exclusively in the diaper/genital region, another had it only on his legs. I thought the first boy just had a rash, and the second had dry skin and was scratching...until the baby showed up with a couple blisters on her hands and face and THEN I made the connection.

[midaycare]

Thank you for posting info on what to look for. I honestly had never heard of it until I joined this forum.

[NightOwl]

Honestly, I dealt with it last year. To each his own, but I don't necessarily exclude for it. We had two get mild cases (including the original child) and no one else got it.

Like many childhood illnesses, it is contagious before you know they have it, it is a virus, so once they have it they are not generally going to get it again, and short of a child with a compromised immune system, kids usually tolerate it well.

With my particular group of kids, I did not feel there was a great risk. I did discuss it with my parents, explained the issues and got their feelings on the subject. Then decided to not exclude. YMMV.

All of mine were mild also. I had 3 to get it and I also questioned excluding. The damage was already done as far as spreading, so I didn't make a big deal of it either.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

Thanks for all the advice. Knock on wood--no one else has caught it yet.

[TwinKristi]

Knock on wood- no one has had it here!
ButI would absolutely exclude for it and have to due to licensing regulations. All it takes is one parent being unhappy about their kids getting sick at daycare from "knowingly" sick kids being there and a call to licensing.
And while some kids have a very mild case, some have very severe cases. A local mom with triplets posted about it on our local moms group and how they each had such different symptoms and cases. One was very, very mild and one was very severe and lost most of his finger and toenails!