Hand, foot, and mouth disease: Milder than it appearsSymptoms
Your child may have some or all of the following symptoms:
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Sore throat, fever, headache, or loss of appetite
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Cough, runny nose, diarrhea, or vomiting
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A rash in the mouth with painful blister-like sores. These sores may make your child’s throat hurt.
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Small blisters on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and buttocks. Normally, blisters appear on different parts of the body at the same time.
Go to the emergency room if your child:
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Is vomiting frequently
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Is breathing rapidly
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Has a sore throat that hurts so badly that it prevents them from eating and drinking
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Has a severe headache and stiff neck
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Seems disoriented or unusually drowsy
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Is having seizures
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Shows signs of dehydration
When in doubt, don’t hesitate to call Info-Santé 811.
What is hand, foot, and mouth disease?
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral infection. It mainly affects young children, though adults can catch it as well. This illness is usually mild.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease causes small blisters or sores in the mouth and on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and buttocks. It’s more common in the summer and early fall, but children can catch it year-round.
This disease is highly contagious. It is easily transmitted through contact with hands, food, or objects contaminated by blister fluid, saliva, mucus, or feces.
The virus can remain in the stool for several weeks, or even months, after symptoms begin. Washing your hands thoroughly after changing diapers helps to prevent the virus from spreading via feces.
Can a child catch the disease more than once?
Children who have already had hand, foot, and mouth disease are immune to the specific virus that caused their infection. However, several viruses can cause this disease, so a child could catch it again if it they are exposed to another virus.
Age: Though the viruses that cause hand, foot, and mouth disease are widespread, the actual illness mainly affects children under the age of 10, and especially those aged 6 months to 4 years old. Adults can also catch the disease, although it’s less common. Newborns are rarely affected by this disease, but if they do catch it, it’s harmless to them. Duration of the illness: Hand, foot, and mouth disease usually clears up within a week. Sores in the mouth may persist for several weeks, while blisters on the hands and feet generally go away in four to seven days. In rare cases, blisters can last for more than 10 days. Contagious period: Children are contagious for the full course of the disease (about seven days). They may be contagious even before blisters appear, especially if they’re coughing or have a runny nose. The virus can remain in the stool for several weeks or even months. Mode of transmission: The virus is transmitted through direct or indirect contact (via objects, food, etc.) with saliva, droplets from coughing or sneezing, or the feces of an infected person. Isolation period: Your child can continue to go to daycare if they feel well enough to participate in group activities. |
Possible complications
The most common complication from hand, foot, and mouth disease is dehydration. This can occur when a child refuses to eat or drink because of pain in their mouth. So, make sure your little one stays well hydrated.
Other possible complications are very rare and are usually associated with infections caused by enterovirus 71, the least common source of infection. Of these rare complications, the most common are viral meningitis or encephalitis. Most deaths related to the disease are due to edema or pulmonary hemorrhage.
Preventing dehydrationIf your child won’t eat or drink because it’s too painful, you can: -
Apply a benzocaine-free oral analgesic inside their mouth before they eat.
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Give them ice cubes or popsicles made with an electrolyte solution (e.g., Pedialyte®, Gastrolyte®) or low-acidity juice (e.g., apple or grape juice).
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Serve them their favourite fruits puréed and mixed with a little water.
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Treatment
Hand, foot, and mouth disease normally clears up on its own without medical intervention. There is no specific treatment, antibiotic, or vaccine for it. Do not attempt to pop the blisters.
You can, however, treat your child’s symptoms:
- Give them acetaminophen (Tylenol®, Tempra®, etc.) to lower their fever and relieve discomfort.
- For older children, have them rinse their mouth with salt water to soothe their sore throat. Use a solution of ½ tsp. salt in 1 cup warm water.
- Make sure they drink plenty of fluids (preferably water or milk, as acidic juices can make the pain worse). If your child has diarrhea or is vomiting, give them an electrolyte solution to drink (e.g., Pedialyte®, Gastrolyte®).
- If your child is hungry, let them eat as usual. If they have a sore throat and difficulty swallowing, try soft foods like applesauce, yogurt, or ice cream However, if your child has diarrhea, avoid ice cream.
Prevention
Adults in contact with a sick child are not at risk of catching the illness if they make sure to wash their hands and clean any surfaces the child has touched.
- Make sure your child washes their hands frequently and carefully with soap and water, especially after going to the bathroom and before eating. If they’re too young to do it themself, do it for them.
- Make sure that everyone who comes into contact with your child also washes their hands. Wash your own hands with soap and water after taking your child to the bathroom, changing their diaper, or wiping their nose, and before feeding them, giving them medicine, etc.
- Clean and disinfect any surfaces, objects, or areas that have come into contact with your child’s vomit or stool, including the toilet. Wash any toys they’ve played with since their blisters appeared. To disinfect toys, spray them with a commercial disinfectant (many dish soaps are also disinfecting) or a homemade solution of 5 ml of bleach in 500 ml of water.
- You don’t need to isolate your child from the rest of the family. To prevent the illness from spreading, just follow the hygiene steps above.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease and pregnancy If you’re pregnant and you’ve been in contact with someone who has hand, foot, and mouth disease, follow the hygiene precautions outlined in the Preventing Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease section. If you think you may have contracted the illness, consult a doctor. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, they can recommend suitable treatment to help relieve your fever and other symptoms. |
| Scientific review: Dr. Anne-Claude Bernard-Bonnin, pediatrician
Research and copywriting:The Naître et grandir team
Updated: July 2022
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Photos: GettyImages/monzenmachi and Joel Carillet
Sources and references
Note: The links to other websites are not updated regularly, and some URLs may have changed since publication. If a link is no longer valid, please use search engines to find the relevant information.
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AboutKidsHealth. “Herpangina and hand, foot and mouth disease.” 2019. www.aboutkidshealth.ca
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Public Health Agency of Canada. “Hand, foot and mouth disease (Enterovirus 71, EV 71).” 2019. www.canada.ca
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GIACHÈ, Susanna, et al. “Hand, foot, and mouth disease in pregnancy: 7 years Tuscan experience and literature review,” The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, vol. 34, no. 9, 2019, pp. 1494–1500. www.tandfonline.com
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Montreal Children’s Hospital. “Understanding hand-foot-and-mouth disease.” www.montrealchildrenshospital.ca
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Ministère de la Famille. “Les infections en milieu de garde.” 2019. www.mfa.gouv.qc.ca
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Canadian Paediatric Society. Caring for Kids. “Hand, foot and mouth disease.” 2019. caringforkids.cps.ca
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VEKEMANS, Gaëlle. L’ABC de la santé des enfants. 2nd ed., Montreal, Les Éditions La Presse, 2016, 413 pp.
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XU, S. et al. ”Neonatal hand, foot, and mouth disease due to coxsackievirus A6 in Shanghai,” BMC Pediatrics, vol. 20, no. 364, August 2020. bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com
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