Doctors report increase in hand, foot and mouth disease among kids in western Pennsylvania
Doctors are seeing an increase in hand, foot and mouth disease among kids in western Pennsylvania, but there are ways to prevent it from infecting your family.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is primarily found in kids under age 5, but anyone can get it.
Allegheny Health Network Pediatrician Dr. Michael Petrosky says doctors may be seeing more cases of it for many reasons, including a new viral strain this season. It is more typical this time of year because of the weather and kids going back to school, and parents are also more aware of what the disease looks like.
"Parent, if you have that in the back of your mind, you may notice that one little rash that you wouldn't look for before," Dr. Petrosky said.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a virus that can also cause a fever and sore throat, but it's the rash that can make it easier to diagnose.
"Usually, it's on the soles of the feet, palms of the hands, around the mouth, or even inside the mouth," Dr. Petrosky says. "But most often, it's not at all three places at the same time, so you could just have it on your hands and still have hand, foot and mouth disease."
The virus is spread through open blisters and also saliva, which means it can spread through coughing. You can prevent getting it if you wash your hands often, avoid touching your face, clean and disinfect surfaces and avoid close contact with infected people.
Doctors say if you recognize the rash on your child, there's no medication to cure hand, foot and mouth disease, but you can use Tylenol and ibuprofen to help with a fever and sore throat.
"The biggest complication we can see from this is just being dehydrated," Dr. Petrosky says. "If your throat's sore because of the blisters in your mouth, you may not want to eat or drink as much, so if you're not (eating or drinking), if it hurts to swallow, we want to make sure kids are staying hydrated."
Hand, foot and mouth disease usually lasts about a week. Doctors say you can usually send your child back to school if they've been fever-free without medication for 24 hours and if the rash is improving.
For more information on hand, foot and mouth disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more details.
And for more resources for families in western Pennsylvania, visit kidsburgh.org.