Hand foot mouth - question

[Wishiwasanheiress]

Hi, I've found websites eg NHS quite good for actual descriptions of this illness. Dds nursery class (she's 2) has an outbreak and I wondered if you might know the answers to these questions. I'm wary of asking my actual nursery as I don't want to sound accusing. I'm not, I'm just not very educated on this topic. Apologies if I am blunt....

Does anyone know why this seems common now? I went to a nursery in early 80s pre school. Nobody of my parents age seems to know about this illness....? Just generally curious as to what has changed.

Is it like flu? You can catch this disease multiple times (usually up to 10 i understand) or is it like chicken pox? Once caught often immune? Nothing I've found mentions it....

I have a 4mth dd too. Ugh, she's getting this too isn't she?

Which spots come up first? Dd mentioned her tooth hurts for last couple days. Either it does and it's dentist, or she's dug her gum with a tooth brush or its hfm. Does mouth come up first? Bonjela help?

Anything else I can do/ should know if you've suffered it? All tips gratefully received.

Many thanks

dd has had it twice ....she got very poorly before any spots appeared and they appeared on her hands then mouth . if your dd is not showing signs of illness then she my not catch it at all

My dd had it and it was very mild. She said her mouth was sore, I saw she had some ulcers, then she got spots on the soles of her feet and some on her shins - like chicken pix spots before they blister, and they never did.

She wasn't poorly at all though. It is caused by an enterovirus. Not sure why/if it is more common now - perhaps just better known about? If I hadn't have heard if it I'd have suspected chicken pox, then when the spots didn't blister I would have just assumed it was an allergy or something.

My mum said I had pseudo chicken pox a couple of times when I was little that never came to anything before I got it got real - perhaps it was that!

I'd not thought about pseudo Chix pox could be! Thanks all

I had hf&m over Christmas
I didn't have any fever or anything, felt a tiny bit under the weather but couldn't eat or speak for a week as my mouth was so sore! DD on the other hand had all of 3 spots on her knee...

1st I knew of it was 1 painful ulcer on my tongue which quickly became several in my mouth and didn't get any better. They were like ulcers from hell! Then little spots just on my hands and feet.

There are a couple of strains I think so you can get it more than once but most people only get it once.

I was also the only person to catch it off DD. there are 2 other adults in my house and also DS who has a weakened immune system so we are generally quite careful but your baby won't necessarily catch it if you limit direct contact between the DCs and keep everyone's hands clean.

I think I had some sneezing near the end too...

DD2 had this - It started with a rash, no temp or anything and she always has a rash when she gets a cold. No idea anything sinister so off she goes to nursery. She then got a few spots on her arms and legs, never had a temp. Me and dh had funny feeling mouth. DD1 had no symptoms at all that I could see so either didn't catch it or was already immune. A couple of other children at nursery had it more severely and were a bit poorly.

So in conclusion although it clearly makes some people ill most people do just have mild symptoms.

It is likely that most people who believe they had chicken pox twice actually had HF&M. It will be interesting to see whether the number claiming to have had CP twice goes down with more being known about HF&M.