Hand Foot Mouth disease at DD school

themamahen · #1 05/13/08, 08:59 PM

Well we got a note that hand foot and mouth is at the school here. Notified the health dept then they notified the school. I really am questioning sending DD to school for the rest of the year, (week left) my niece had it a few years ago and it's awful stuff.

horsepoor21 · #2 05/13/08, 09:20 PM

My first son had this when just a week old , had to be hospitalized . Had soars in his mouth and throat , and all over his body . Rapid breathing .... IV's and cords hooked up to him , even in his head . It was horrible ! But they doctors told him it would just show up as a cold in anyone else .... only infants and the elderly need worry ? Guess he was wrong! I pray your daughter doesn't get it !
-Amy

texastami · #3 05/13/08, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by horsepoor21

But they doctors told him it would just show up as a cold in anyone else .... only infants and the elderly need worry ? Guess he was wrong!
-Amy

I don't think thats right!!

My DD was 2 and DD8 when they contracted HFM from a friend's toddler..... it was the most horrible thing we have ever been through.... UGH!

I wouldn't risk sending my child anywhere near it!! (we didn't know her son had it, she lied to me to get me to babysit!!)

tallpines · #4 05/13/08, 09:51 PM

Three of my 5 had it at ages 3, 4 and 8.

The 8 year old had the most severe symptoms.

The ordeal of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease was not fun for us but no worse than Chicken Pox.

Becca65 · #5 05/13/08, 10:00 PM

Over in another country some kids were dying from HFM disease.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24469394
Course they probably don't have the medical that we have here. But thats a high number of kids.
Actually 24 kids have died, but alot of them are sick.

unregistered29228 · #6 05/13/08, 10:05 PM

We lived in Malaysia for several years, and they closed the International school for two weeks because of this diseases. 6 kids in the city died from it, and I was worried for months.

It's a nuisance at best, and life threatening at worst.

plumcreekfarm · #7 05/13/08, 11:14 PM

I had 4 get it. The older children also were worse. My nursing baby had just 1 sore on his foot. My five year old had a mouth full of sores. She was in pain and it made for long nights. There is no treatment but time. We never went to the dr as they can't really help. After 5 or so days life went back to normal. Unless your children are already very undernourished they will not die. An already very sick child or a non nursing newborn might be the exception. Healthy kids do fine.

IMContrary · #8 05/13/08, 11:22 PM

Here is a good article about it from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/...virus/hfhf.htm

Peacock · #9 05/13/08, 11:54 PM

My kids both got this when my daughter was in preschool. I don't blame the school, I blame parents who send their kids to school when they're obviously sick!

The kids hardly suffered at all -- daughter whined a little but she's always had excellent immunity. My son (about 2 at the time) ate a little less and slept a little more, but got over it quickly as well.

On the other hand...if they say it mostly affects young children, HA HA! I got news for them...I GOT IT WORSE THAN ANYONE.

Oh my GOSH! I got these horrible blisters on my hands so I couldn't hardly do any housework and it was a chore getting the kids dressed. I got them on my feet so bad it hurt to walk! And my mouth hurt so I didn't want to eat anything but ice cream and popsicles for a week!

I just want to say...yeah, grownups can get it too! Watch out.

Wildfire_Jewel · #10 05/14/08, 07:34 AM

My son had this no less than FIVE TIMES from late infancy thru his preschool years. Only once was it bad enough to affect his ability to eat. I had been told you could only get it once like chicken pox but then the pediatrician said that there are many different strains of it. I hate viruses! I remember having this at around 8 or 9 and i was MISERABLE. My entire mouth and throat was covered in sores and the only thing I could tolerate was the icecream and popcycles. UG....did I mention I hate viruses?

I would keep the kids home.....they do not learn much in the last week of school anyways. Here it seems to be filled up with cleaning out all the kids things and parties.

ZMTmom · #11 05/14/08, 07:39 AM

My son had it as a toddler(from our lake). Dh and I both caught it, and it wasn't "just a cold"...it was the highest fever we'd ever remembered(and poor dh was at a conference, in a freezing cold hotel room..and I was home alone, trying to manage a bored toddler by myself). It's yucky stuff!

cider · #12 05/14/08, 09:37 AM

Is this the same thing they call 5th's disease?

cider · #13 05/14/08, 09:39 AM

No, different thing entirely. Thanks.

crafty2002 · #14 05/14/08, 09:52 AM

I would like to second or third the idea, no way would I send my daughter into something like that.
I keep her home when she is sick so she won't spread it and I keep her home if the school is sick, and that's the way I look at it with an outbreak of any type, the school is sick. But thank God, so far this year she has had perfit attendance and the year is running out fast.
Thank God for that also.

Dennis

Kstornado11 · #15 07/25/08, 05:35 AM

I took the baby to the Urgent Care Wednesday night,& they said he has this. Thing IS, the only place he has the sores is on his FEET! Can't see any in his mouth or on his hands,& no fever. I did a search here as I remembered this thread & a few others. I wonder how the heck it could only be on the feet? They didn't give us any options to use,except ibuprofen or Bennadryl.He's been up most of the night,fussing & rubbing his feet together. Anyone ever heard of it only being on the feet? How long does it usually last? WHat I read onlne said 2-3 days,but that doesn't sound right. He is getting his AFOs (braces on his feet for his cerebral palsy) on August 11th,I hope this is all gone by then!!!

Jenn · #16 07/25/08, 08:29 PM

I had never heard of it being so bad- but know edayna is right because a doc I worked with got it from his kid- she was fine but he was really miserable for a week or two. Also chicken pox is worse for adults. Almost hospitalized a coworker with it until I thought to switch her from tylenol to motrin. And then for a month we were on scar watch- she was a gorgeously beautiful woman and had a big scab on her nose I was terrified would remain a scar (I have a CP scar on my forehead but have had it all my life. getting it at 28 would really upset me!).

Kstornado11 · #17 07/25/08, 09:14 PM

I did think of chickenpox when I first saw it. None of my kids have ever had it.
He seems better now,but boy was he an unhappy camper all night & day!

Still no fever or sores on his hands or mouth. Several months ago he had something simular,and the dr said it was a chronic eczema called dishydrosis,but since it never returned,I assumed he was wrong (this was in January,I think). I am wondering if somehow the cerebral palsy is somehow contributing to the skin problems he always seems to have on his feet... they always seem dry & peeling.

pamda · #18 07/26/08, 12:43 AM

My Dn (boy) had this a week before school started last fall. He is 12. He was so sick! This is a skinny kid to begin with, but with the sores in his mouth and all the way down his throat, he lost 20% of his body weight and looked like a ghost. He was a premie and weighed just a lb. at birth and the Drs say he is still in danger every time he is sick so they watch him very closely. He goes to a school where the largest group of kids is from Africa and mid european countries and kids are sick alot. We almost lost a baby in 2007 from the childcare who got this and was in hospital also(he was 13 months) Now is 2 yrs. He was one sick baby.