Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease - Saint Louis,MO

My kids both had it a few weeks ago. They presented totally differently:

Baby (7 months at the time) - it started on her chest as tiny red bumps. Next day, she had small bumps across her belly right where the diaper hit it. Third day, huge bumps/rash along her bottom where the edges of the diaper hit, along with bumps on her upper arms and torso. Oddly enough, only two dots on her feet and none on her hands and mouth. She did have a low grade fever and was extra fussy the first couple of days.

Son (age 4) - low grade fever, sore throat for a day or two, then bumps all over his hands and feet. Never in the mouth. Still had ALL his energy... it was awful because we had to stay home and he was bouncing off the walls b/c he didn't feel sick!

It's highly contagious, so stay home for the next 5-7 days, longer if it is still progressing at that point.

Seems like there is not enough evidence to know for sure either way. I do know that my son had hand foot and mouth and he had a fever, with very little appetite for about 3 days. It wasn't until the day after the fever broke that he had visible sores on his tongue and he never got them on his hands or feet. Not all kids get all of the symptoms, but we knew thats what it was based on the mouth sores and the fact that it was going around his daycare at the time. Regardless of what the virus is the treatment is the same. Do your best to get him to stay hydrated and give him tylenol to keep him comfortable and it should go away in a few days to a week.

it could be herpes in the throat. my daughter had this. it's sort of like the hand,foot and mouth disease, but no rash or blisters on the hand and feet. just the back of the throat. i had taken my daughter to the dr's and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with her. she had 104 temp. i took her to the ER later that same day and they showed me all the pustules(sp). it was pretty painful looking. they gave her tylonel with codeine. she didn't eat anything besides yogurt for about a week. maybe it's something like this?

I personally had this back in February... horrible! I thought it was strep because of the sores in the back of my throat. Was not feeling any better so I went back to the doc a few days later. Ended up having pneumonia as well. Let me tell you, that was not a fun couple of weeks. I thought I was dieing!!! Anways, lots of cool fluids, popsicles, yogurt, jello, ice cream etc. Tylenol!!!

It took my son a couple of days to get a rash on his foot and on his hand, a few on his chin. He DID have a fever and that's why we took him to the dr. He was diagnosed with strep throat, although the quick-test came back negative. So if he doesn't get the rash on his extrmeties, then perhaps it's strep.

yes, my son had it many years ago. He was only 6 months old. He cried a lot because he was very uncomfortable. It lasted a few days and was gone.

fyi (just in case): this is not Hoof N Mouth..... or whatever that is that horses get. Lots of kids get this and it will go away.

I really don't know. I've had several children be diagnosed in the last 25 years at times when we had a virus go through. Only if 2-3 children come down with the same symptoms, one doctor will say it's just a general virus, another will say hand foot mouth, and another one will call it allergies. We've even had RSV thrown in with no blood tests or anything to confirm.

The only time I know of for certain that the kids had it was the first time when I had not ever heard of it before. I had several toddlers and they all got it in the same week to 10 day period of time. When we started seeing the blisters on the feet we thought they had a type of fungus. Then it moved to the hands and they got the sniffles. By the time one of the kids went to the doctor there wasn't anyone left to get it. None of them had fevers and no one missed work because it was too late to do anything about it. But the adults never got it. My own 4 girls lived at home then and only the baby got it. My older kids that were all 11, 13, and 16 that year did not get it. My mom and I didn't get it and none of the parents did. I really think that it's just a fairly normal virus and probably gets passed around way more than we really know about it.

Yes I do. He might get the blisters in a day or two.....

My son got it when he was two. He never had the sores on his hands or feet either, so I was surprised by the diagnosis, but he did have a little blister on his throat and his mouth was also clearly painful (wouldn't eat even struggled to suck on a popsicle, and a couple of kids at his pre-school WERE diagnosed after they actually DID get the feet sores.

Honestly, it's a virus anyway, so it doesn't matter WHAT the diagnosis really is. You're going to treat him the same either way, right. Keep him hydrated, give him Motrin, keep him comfy and rested.

HTH
T.

I think my son had it last month. He had a high fever and sore throat, then stomach pain, then sore throat again and cold. There were never any blisters but there were was one tiny mouth sore. When he was about 22 months old the doc thought he had it (high fever and red throat), turned out to be Roseola, got a nice face rash towards the end of it.

My son had it, it was horrible! He was so miserable! It lasted about a week. But the doctors did see blisters in his throat.