HFM Rearing it's ugly head

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It hit us earlier in the summer. DH and I managed to avoid getting it. Kids had a pretty bad time though, and were out of school for many days.

How do you think you managed not to get it?

Not PP, but I think it's fairly rare for adults to get it. My kids have both had it (at separate times) and I didn't get it. My husband had it when my first kid got it, but not the second time.

Adults and even older kids don't often catch it. Not impossible, but not common.

Citation? I know I'm a sample of 1 but I had a horrible case with persistent, painful mouth sores that made it hard to eat and drink.

[Anonymous]

It hit our center a month ago. All but 1 kid in my son's class were out at one point. I also got it but not terribly like some adults do. DH and other kid had a few spots and that was it.

[Anonymous]

Went through our center in June. DS was lucky and didn't get sores in his mouth and never ran a fever. His hands and feet were total wrecks but it didn't seem to bother him. We used Aveeno baby oatmeal baths daily to help calm the sores.

His hands and feet started peeling badly within a week or two. He also lost two fingernails and two toenails, but that didn't happen until the past couple of weeks, so about 1.5-2 months after.

As for avoiding it yourself, we washed our hands or used hand sanitizer nonstop. We also kept him in footie pajamas to limit the amount of exposed sores.

While it is less common for adults and older kids to get it, it is not rare like some have suggested. Like chicken pox, it also tends to be worse the older you are when you get it. I got it when I was about 10 and it is to this day the sickest I ever was 102 fever that wouldn't break, incredible pain from the sores such that I was unable to eat, drink, or even swallow.

[Anonymous]

I just heard about a couple cases among teenagers in Alexandria. Eek, must be going around like crazy!

[Anonymous]

Wash your hands, hand sanitizer doesn’t stop this. It’s a common childhood illness there really isn’t anything you can do to stop your kid from getting it but you can for you, they shead virus for up to 2 weeks mostly in poop so I got disposable gloves. Never got it my husband did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It hit us earlier in the summer. DH and I managed to avoid getting it. Kids had a pretty bad time though, and were out of school for many days.

How do you think you managed not to get it?

Not PP, but I think it's fairly rare for adults to get it. My kids have both had it (at separate times) and I didn't get it. My husband had it when my first kid got it, but not the second time.

Adults and even older kids don't often catch it. Not impossible, but not common.

Citation? I know I'm a sample of 1 but I had a horrible case with persistent, painful mouth sores that made it hard to eat and drink.

I also got it as an adult, but I asked my mom and I never had it as a baby/kid. So I think I got it because I never built up any immunity from past exposure. My guess is the people who get it as parents from their kids are the ones who never had it themselves. (That said, my older kid never had it and didn't get it from her sibling.)

[Anonymous]

To those asking admit re-infection: my understanding is that there are 2-3 viruses that cause hfm so no one should get or more than three times. It’s incidence seems to be increasing as fewer kids get chicken pox (or maybe we just notice it more b/c there are fewer rash viruses in circulation in general).

My data point of one family: 18mo had it with one day of high fever and a super mild rash. Had to miss no daycare — I only guessed it was HFM b/c there was an email sent out the week before saying it was going around. I didn’t get anything.

[Anonymous]

HFM has been pretty bad and making the rounds for the past two months. My kids (2 and 5) had it simultaneously with covid. 5 year old had several dime sized sores in his mouth and DD had blisters all over the soles of her feet. We got Covid from them but not HFM and thankfully Covid wasn’t a big deal for any of us. My DH got HFM from our DS when he had a case when he was 18 months and it was so painful.

[Anonymous]

My 12 year old has this! Ugh!!

[Anonymous]

I have two kids (1 & 3). The one year old is just getting over his SECOND case of HFM this summer. Once in June, once in August. The one in June spread to my 3 year old and my spouse. We will see who else gets this strain. Our pediatrician said there are actually six strains of HFM. Fun times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It hit our center a month ago. All but 1 kid in my son's class were out at one point. I also got it but not terribly like some adults do. DH and other kid had a few spots and that was it.

Writing back to report we got hit with it a second time 6 weeks later. Thankfully much milder but good grief.

[Anonymous]

The virus that causes this is very common. So adults don't normally contract the virus, because there's a good chance they've been exposed to it previously and immunity is good. It's the same reason it tears through daycares/preschools, but not elementary schools. Most kids have had it by then.

Only one of my kids came down with a bad case of it. He actually didn't feel that bad, but he *looked* awful. He had sores all over his face, arms and legs. After a day or so of fever, he was fine. No one in the house had any symptoms, including his older sister. She'd probably been exposed, but didn't have symptoms.

I also know several adults who contracted it from their kids and really suffered. It's highly variable! But it does seem to tend towards mild.