What are the symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease?

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common gastrointestinal disease in our daily life. This type of disease often occurs in children who do not pay attention to hygiene in our lives. Because they do not wash their hands before eating, the bacteria on their hands are infected and then enter our stomachs through food, thus causing the occurrence of hand, foot and mouth disease. If a child develops hand, foot and mouth disease, you should pay attention to the child's symptoms in a timely manner.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease caused by enterovirus. There are more than 20 types of enterovirus that can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, among which Coxsackievirus A16 (Cox A16) and enterovirus 71 (EV 71) are the most common. It mostly occurs in children under 5 years old, with symptoms such as mouth pain, anorexia, low fever, and small blisters or ulcers on the hands, feet, mouth, etc. Most children recover on their own in about a week, while a few children may develop complications such as myocarditis, pulmonary edema, and aseptic meningoencephalitis. The condition of some seriously ill children progresses rapidly, leading to death. Currently, there is a lack of effective treatment drugs and the main treatment is symptomatic.

General treatment

If there are no complications, the prognosis of this disease is generally good and most patients recover within a week. Mainly for symptomatic treatment.

(1) First, isolate the sick child, and those in contact should be disinfected and isolated to avoid cross infection.

(2) Provide symptomatic treatment and maintain good oral care. For severe oral herpes and ulcers, gargle or apply Kangfuxin liquid to the affected area. You can also mix Smecta into a paste and apply it to the ulcer surface with a cotton swab after meals.

(3) Clothes and bedding should be clean, comfortable, soft, and changed frequently.

(4) Cut your baby’s nails short and wrap your baby’s hands if necessary to prevent scratching the rash.

(5) In the early stages of a rash on the hands and feet, apply calamine lotion. When herpes forms or breaks, apply 0.5% iodine tincture.

(6) For babies with rashes on their buttocks, their urine and feces should be cleaned up at all times and their buttocks should be kept clean and dry.

By paying attention to children's symptoms, we can understand the condition in time, and their daily eating and living habits should be corrected. Maintaining hygienic eating habits can effectively prevent the invasion of diseases. We should teach children to wash their hands before meals and after defecation. Developing good habits is a good helper in preventing diseases. During the treatment of poor gastrointestinal health, a light diet is required.