Red Flags: What You Need to Know If Your Child Develops These Spots
Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD)
It’s autumn. Which also means we’re entering a ‘lovely’ period of colds, flu, and other viruses. A virus that is currently spreading is the contagious HFMD – Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. In some countries, it is also known as ‘autumn pox’.
The infection often occurs in the autumn and late summer months and primarily affects children under 10. The infection spreads through direct human-to-human contact – and can result in red spots or blisters spreading all over the child’s body. The blisters and spots can look very nasty, and according to specialists, the most common symptoms are:
- Blisters in the mouth, lips, cheeks, tongue, and palate.
- Blisters on the hands, feet, buttocks, and other body parts.
- Small sores when the blisters burst.
- Fever.
- In some cases, children’s nails can fall off.
This is good to know if your child has HFMD:
- Stay calm: it is a virus that often goes away within a week. There is no special treatment for it.
- If the child has a fever, you can give them normal painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen.
- If the child has blisters in their mouth, give them something cold or easy to eat, like a cold drink or an ice cream.
- The infection spreads from person to person through physical contact, especially through hands. The disease is most contagious in the first few days of the illness. The time between symptom and infection is about three to seven days.
If you or your child have sores and spots around the mouth during a high fever, contact a professional to make sure it is nothing serious. Similar to chickenpox, if your child ever has HFMD, they will not get it again.
So stay calm and read information about the condition if you find these types of red spots on your child! Share this so more parents get this information.
