Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a communicable disease mostly affects infants and children but can also occur in adolescents and adults. It is an acute viral infection caused by a group of enteroviruses, including Coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) and Enterovirus 71 (EV71). The disease is usually mild characterized by fever, painful sores in the mouth, and a rash with blisters on hands, feet and also buttocks. Infection with EV71 can cause severe disease in children, sometimes resulting in death.
Though the outbreaks of HFMD occur worldwide but in recent years these have occurred more in Asia including: China, Japan, Hong Kong (China), Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan (China) and Viet Nam.
HFMD was first reported in India from Calicut (Kerala) in 2003, thereafter outbreaks were reported from Nagpur (Maharashtra), Jorhat (Assam), Kolkata (West Bengal), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Udaipur (Rajasthan), Leh (Jammu and Kashmir).
HFMD is not to be confused with foot-and-mouth disease (also called hoof-and-mouth disease), which occurs in animals (cattle, sheep, and pigs) by a different virus and do not transmit to humans.
References-
www.wpro.who.int/topics/hand_foot_mouth/en/
www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318054/
HFMD is usually a mild disease. Symptoms may appear in 3-7 days after getting infection (this period is termed as incubation period).
HFMD in pregnant women:
No adverse outcome of pregnancy (such as abortion, stillbirth or congenital defects) is observed when pregnant women are infected with HFMD; however pregnant women may pass the virus to the baby if they are infected shortly before delivery or have symptoms at the time of delivery.
Most newborns infected with an enterovirus have mild illness, but the risk of severe illness may be higher in newborns infected during the first two weeks of life.
References-
HFMD is caused by group of viruses called enteroviruses. There are different types of viruses in this group that include polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses and other enteroviruses. The common viruses causing HFMD are coxsackievirus A16 resulting in mild self limiting disease with few complications and enterovirus 71 (EV71) which has been associated with serious complication and is fatal.
Transmission of infection:
HFMD is not transmitted to or from pets or other animals.
References-
The diagnosis of HFMD is based on clinical examination. Samples for virology investigation from the throat swabs, vesicles, rectal swab/ stool or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may be collected and sent to a laboratory to test for the virus.
References-
www.wpro.who.int/publications/docs/GuidancefortheclinicalmanagementofHFMD
www.ncdc.gov.in/writereaddata/linkimages/July08475966895.pdf
In most cases, HFMD is a self-limiting illness, with the majority of children recovering spontaneously with symptomatic treatment as:
References-
www.ncdc.gov.in/writereaddata/linkimages/July08475966895.pdf
Usually all patients recover within 7-10 days without any medical treatment and complications are uncommon.
Reference-
There is no vaccine to protect against the viruses that cause hand, foot and mouth disease. As HFMD is contagious disease further transmission of disease can be prevented by practicing good hygienic practices:
References-
www.wpro.who.int/publications/docs/GuidancefortheclinicalmanagementofHFMD
www.ncdc.gov.in/writereaddata/linkimages/July08475966895.pdf