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Home Topics A–Z Hand foot and mouth disease
Author: A/Prof Amanda Oakley, Dermatologist, Hamilton, New Zealand, 1998. Updated by Jannet Gomez; Dr Amanda Oakley, October 2016.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD or HFM) is a common mild and short-lasting viral infection most often affecting young children. It is characterised by blisters on the hands, feet and in the mouth. The infection may rarely affect adults.
HFMD is also called enteroviral vesicular stomatitis.
Hand foot and mouth disease
See more images of hand, foot and mouth disease.
Hand foot and mouth disease is due to an enterovirus infection, usually Coxsackie virus (CV) A16. Other viruses causing HFM include:
HFM most often infects children under the age of 10, and most are under 5 years of age (95%). It can uncommonly affect adults and tends to be more severe in the elderly, immunocompromised, and pregnant women.
Hand foot and mouth disease is very infectious viral infection; several members of the family or a school class may be affected. Epidemics are most common during the late summer or autumn months.
The typical incubation period of HFMD is 3-5 days but has been known to range from, 2-7 days.
Symptoms usually include:
Atypical hand foot and mouth disease results in a more widespread rash. Features may include:
Flat pink patches on the dorsal and palmar surfaces of the hands and feet are soon followed by small elongated greyish blisters. These resolve by peeling off within a week, without leaving scars.
Usually, there are also a few small oral vesicles and ulcers. These are sometimes painful, so the child eats little and frets. There may be a few on the skin around the mouth. In young children, a red rash may develop on the buttocks and sometimes on the arms.
Atypical hand foot and mouth disease due to Coxsackie A6 results in a more widespread rash, larger blisters and subsequent skin peeling and/or nail shedding.
Atypical hand foot and mouth disease
The diagnosis is typically made clinically, due to the characteristic appearance of blisters in typical sites, ie, hands, feet, and mouth.
In ill children, blood tests may show:
Skin biopsy of a blister shows the characteristic histopathologic findings of hand-foot-and-mouth disease.
Hand foot and mouth is passed on by direct contact with the skin, nasal and oral secretions of infected individuals, or by faecal contamination.
Specific treatment is not often necessary.
Intravenous immunoglobulin and milrinone have shown some efficacy in a few reports.
No vaccines or specific antiviral medications are available.
As in the vast majority of cases, hand foot and mouth disease is a mild illness, there is no need to keep children from school once they are well enough to attend.
The blisters remain infective until they have dried up, which is usually within a few days. The stools are infective for up to a month after the illness. Thorough hand-washing will reduce the spread of the disease.
Complications are uncommon. They include:
Serious enteroviral infection can lead to:
Neurological involvement associated with enterovirus 71 infection may include:
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