How to prevent and care for hand, foot and mouth disease

How to prevent and care for hand, foot and mouth disease? This issue is of great concern to many young parents, because hand, foot and mouth disease mostly occurs in infants and young children, and hand, foot and mouth disease is also contagious to a certain extent, so most young parents are still worried and concerned. Because if they know how to prevent and care for hand, foot and mouth disease, they don’t need to worry too much about their babies getting hand, foot and mouth disease.

In fact, hand, foot and mouth disease is a common disease, and it is especially common in infants and young children. This may be because infants and young children have poor physical constitution. It is very worrying when infants and young children are diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease, because many times these sick infants and young children cannot eat and their mouths are often filled with small blisters. So, let’s talk about how to prevent and care for hand, foot and mouth disease.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease caused by enterovirus. There are more than 20 types of enterovirus that can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, among which Coxsackievirus A16 (Cox A16) and enterovirus 71 (EV 71) are the most common. It mostly occurs in children under 5 years old, with symptoms such as mouth pain, anorexia, low fever, and small blisters or ulcers on the hands, feet, mouth, etc. Most children recover on their own in about a week, while a few children may develop complications such as myocarditis, pulmonary edema, and aseptic meningoencephalitis. The condition of some seriously ill children progresses rapidly, leading to death. Currently, there is a lack of effective treatment drugs and the main treatment is symptomatic.

prevention

1. Children should wash their hands with soap or hand sanitizer before meals, after defecation and after going out. Do not let children drink raw water or eat raw or cold food, and avoid contact with sick children.

2. Caregivers must wash their hands before contacting children, changing diapers, and handling feces, and dispose of waste properly.

3. Bottles and nipples used by infants and young children should be thoroughly cleaned before and after use.

4. During the epidemic period, it is not advisable to bring children to public places where people gather and air circulation is poor. Pay attention to maintaining a clean home environment, ventilate the room frequently, and dry clothes and quilts frequently.

5. Children should go to a medical institution promptly if they develop related symptoms. Sick children should not come into contact with other children. Parents should promptly dry or disinfect the sick children's clothes and disinfect the sick children's feces in a timely manner. Children with mild symptoms do not need to be hospitalized and should be treated and rest at home to reduce cross infection.

6. Clean and disinfect toys, personal hygiene utensils, tableware and other items daily.

7. Child care units should conduct morning inspections every day. If any suspected sick child is found, they should be promptly sent to the hospital for treatment or have the child rest at home. Items used by the sick child should be disinfected immediately.

8. When the number of children with the disease increases, report it to the health and education departments in a timely manner. According to the needs of epidemic control, local education and health departments may decide to take measures to close childcare institutions or primary schools.

To sum up, I believe that most young parents should have understood the specific methods of preventing and caring for hand, foot and mouth disease. Then, in the future life, we can use them to help our babies stay away from hand, foot and mouth disease as much as possible; even if they accidentally get hand, foot and mouth disease, our parents can take correct care measures in time to minimize the damage to the baby's body.