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A common illness found in daycares and preschools is hand, foot, and mouth disease. Hand, foot, and mouth disease isn’t very serious, but its symptoms can be uncomfortable and disruptive to families, daycares, and preschools alike.

But first, let’s clear up a common misconception - hand, foot, and mouth disease isn’t the same as hoof and mouth disease found in livestock. Humans don’t get hoof and mouth disease and animals do not get hand, foot, and mouth disease. With that out of the way, knowing what hand, foot, and mouth disease is can help you prevent your children from getting it, and if they do get it, help them recover more easily.

The symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth include fever, flu-like symptoms, mouth sores, and skin rash on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. A child may experience all these symptoms or just one of them. The disease is common and mostly occurs in the summer and fall and because it is often mild, children normally can continue to go to daycare if they don’t have a fever and feel well enough to participate in their daily activities.

The virus that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease lives in bodily fluids like saliva, snot, feces, and pus from blisters and scabs. During the first week of the illness, when children are most contagious, the disease can spread through contact with an infected child’s tissues, dirty diapers, toys, or close contact from hugs.

To prevent the spread of the disease, it’s important for caregivers, parents, and children to be vigilant in sanitizing everything once there’s been a report of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds after caring for someone sick, using the toilet, blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing, and changing diapers is very important. Avoiding touching your nose, eyes, and mouth with unwashed hands is also a way to avoid infection. Disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and toys can also slow the spread of the virus.

Rest and hydration are the primary treatments for hand, foot, and mouth disease though swallowing can be painful at times. Over-the-counter fever and pain relief medicines for children can help. If your child is not able to drink enough to stay hydrated, has a weakened immune system, is younger than six months old, or has symptoms that do not improve after 10 days, they should be taken to your healthcare provider.

Mount Nittany Physician Group has pediatricians at six locations across Centre and Mifflin Counties. If your child has unresolved symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease visit mountnittany.org or call 844-278-4600 to make an appointment.