Hand-foot-and-mouth disease Drink plenty and help cool food

Especially children affected: Cool food in hand-foot-mouth disease
Rashes with small red spots on the hands or feet and sore mouth blisters may indicate hand-foot-and-mouth disease. The infectious disease usually affects children, but adults can also get infected. Among other things, cold food brings relief.
Especially children affected
Flu-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, body aches and loss of appetite are the first typical signs of hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Symptoms such as rashes on the backs of the hands and feet, and blisters in the mouth are quickly added. These vesicles turn into painful erosions (aphthous ulcers). Especially children under the age of ten are affected by the infectious disease. But even adults can get infected with the pathogens. However, the disease usually goes unnoticed by them. The germs can of course be transmitted. Therefore, parents should avoid contact with other children as far as possible, if the own offspring is ill.

Hand-foot-mouth disease. Image: GordonGrand - fotolia

Illness is usually harmless
In most cases, the hand-foot-and-mouth disease is without major complications. This is also confirmed by Hermann Josef Kahl, pediatrician from Düsseldorf. "The disease is usually harmless," the doctor is quoted in a message from the news agency dpa. But the spotted skin of children can make parents very nervous. "The basic vowel is: do not panic!" Says Kahl. Most of the disease is over after three to seven days. However, a doctor should be consulted if there is no improvement over a longer period of time. "In that case may have been added to another illness," said the pediatrician. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the disease increasingly occurs in late summer and autumn.

Bed rest and lots of fluids
Since the hand-foot-and-mouth disease is very contagious, the kids are not allowed to go to kindergarten or school. Kahl emphasized that bed rest and plenty of fluids are important to the patient. "Because the mouth often hurts a lot, diseased children do not like eating." Cool foods can spare the irritated mucous membranes. According to health experts, aphthous foods should be free from hard foods such as rusks, nuts or potato chips. And if possible also on hot or spicy foods and certain fruits such as cherries, plums, pineapples, tomatoes and citrus fruits, because these irritate the oral mucosa. A common home remedy for inflammation in the mouth is chamomile. If the offspring suffers from fever, suppositories or fever juices can relieve the symptoms. "Infants with fever should always be examined by a doctor," says Kahl. (Ad)