I looked at the discussion on foot and mouth, however, it appeared to be mostly about animal foot and mouth with a bit of BSE thrown in for good measure.
My little boy (turns 2 tomorrow!) was released from hospital yesterday after two terrifying days of extreme fever, dehydration, twitching, shaking and hallucinations. He was one of three from the same daycare centre admitted and one of six that were in the emergency department on the one afternoon.
The daycare centre had had an older child (4 years) with hand, foot and mouth disease about two weeks ago, called public health and were told not to worry and that this was a harmless childhood disease and that everyone got it eventually. So they put up a notice indicating the warning signs, but that was it.
The disease ended up in the babies room (where my son is looked after) and has now infected at least 6 of the 15 children. The head of the emergency centre told us he was digusted at the advice given by public health and that one little boy (3 years old) was flown to a large children's hospital in Sydney 2 weeks ago and is still there being treated. My little boy was immediately admitted to hospital and put in an isolation ward (this is how important the hospital staff believe the disease to be!).
After some extensive research by the ER doctor and my FIL (recently retired medico) there are 2 types of virus that can cause this disease. The first is a coxsakie virus and complications etc are very rare. The second (and the one my little boy and the other children have) is an adenovirus and infection can lead to ecephalitis, meningitis and damage to the heart muscle. This virus is highly contagious to babies and young children (infection in adults is apparently rare) and the disease can last for 8 to 21 days. Early symptoms are irritability and loss of appetite. Then blisters appear in the mouth (inside lips, on tongue and on gums...not a pretty sight and incredibly painful), on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Rashes or blisters can also appear in the nappy region and over the legs and abdomen and occasionally on the cheeks. The child has a fever (Tom's was very high and did not come down with paracetamol) and stops eating and drinking. The virus can also affect the central nervous sysmtem.
I just wanted to warn you all that this apparently "harmless childhood disease" can be anything but. Tom was lucky and has started eating and drinking on his own, the two other children are still in hospital on drips.