What is the cause of hand, foot and mouth disease in children?

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a disease that everyone knows about, but many people may have only heard of it but do not know much about it, so sometimes many problems will arise. Some people want to know what hand, foot and mouth disease is, especially what happens when children get hand, foot and mouth disease? The editor will explain it to you below, and I hope you can understand this situation.

1 Cause

There are several viruses that can cause hand, foot and mouth disease. The most common is Coxsackievirus A16, but other strains of Coxsackievirus A or enterovirus 71 can also cause hand, foot and mouth disease. Coxsackievirus is a type of enterovirus. Enteroviruses include poliovirus, coxsackievirus, and echovirus. The infection site is the entire digestive tract including the mouth. It enters the body through contaminated food, drinks, fruits, etc. and proliferates in the intestines.

2 Clinical manifestations

Hand, foot and mouth disease mainly occurs in children under 4 years old, but adults can also get the disease, so it can be said that everyone is susceptible. After infection, you only gain immunity to that type of virus, and there is no cross-immunity to reinfection with other types of viruses. That is, after suffering from hand, foot and mouth disease, you may suffer from hand, foot and mouth disease again due to infection with other types of viruses. Incubation period: usually 2 to 10 days, average 3 to 5 days.

1. Common symptoms

Acute onset, fever, scattered blisters on the oral mucosa, maculopapular rashes and blisters on the hands, feet and buttocks, with inflammatory red halos around the blisters and less fluid in the blisters. May be accompanied by symptoms such as cough, runny nose, and loss of appetite. Some cases only present as rash or herpangina. Most patients recover within a week and the prognosis is good. In some cases, the rash may be atypical, such as appearing in a single area or only as maculopapular rash.

2. Symptoms of severe cases

In a few cases (especially those under 3 years old), the disease progresses rapidly, with meningitis, encephalitis (brainstem encephalitis is the most dangerous), encephalomyelitis, pulmonary edema, circulatory disorders, etc. occurring within 1 to 5 days of onset. In very rare cases, the condition is critical and can lead to death, and survivors may have sequelae.

(1) Nervous system manifestations include poor mental state, drowsiness, irritability, headache, vomiting, delirium and even coma; limb tremors, myoclonus, nystagmus, ataxia, eye movement disorders; weakness or acute flaccid paralysis; convulsions. Physical examination may reveal signs of meningeal irritation, weakened or absent tendon reflexes, and positive pathological signs such as Babinski's sign.

(2) Respiratory system symptoms include shallow breathing, difficulty breathing or changes in rhythm, cyanosis of the lips, coughing, coughing up white, pink or bloody foamy sputum; moist rales or sputum sounds can be heard in the lungs.

(3) Circulatory system symptoms include pale complexion, skin patterns, cold limbs, cyanosis of fingers and toes, cold sweats, and prolonged capillary refill time. The heart rate increases or decreases, the pulse becomes shallow or weak or even disappears; the blood pressure increases or decreases.

Acute onset, fever; scattered herpes the size of rice grains appears on the oral mucosa, with obvious pain; rice-sized herpes appears on the palms or soles, and the buttocks or knees may occasionally be affected. There is an inflammatory red halo around the herpes, and there is less fluid in the blisters. Some children may experience symptoms such as cough, runny nose, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and headache. Doctors can usually differentiate oral ulcers caused by hand, foot and mouth disease from other causes based on the patient's age, symptoms reported by the patient or parents, and by examining the rash and ulcers. Throat swabs or stool specimens can be sent to the laboratory for virus testing, but virus testing takes 2 to 4 weeks to produce results, so doctors usually do not recommend this test. The diagnosis must be based on epidemiological data, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and etiological examination evidence.

The above mainly introduces the specific situation of hand, foot and mouth disease. After reading the above content, you should understand it in detail. At the same time, if any of these situations occur, you must go to a regular hospital for medical examination in time, so that you can recover your health as soon as possible and ensure the health of your child.