HAND, FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (HFMD)

Person-to-person

The viruses that cause HFMD are highly infectious. Transmission via the hands plays an important role here.

The pathogens are spread from person to person by direct contact with bodily fluids. Fluid from the blisters in the skin rash is especially infectious. If the hands come into contact with this fluid, then the viruses can be passed on easily from hand to hand. Pathogens can also be transmitted from the patient’s stools – such as when changing a nappy.

Airborne infection is another transmission pathway: if a person coughs or sneezes, minute droplets containing the virus are expelled as an aerosol and can be breathed in by other people nearby.

Via contaminated objects

Pathogens can also be passed from one person to another via objects in common use, such as door handles, handrails or banisters.

While anyone can catch HFMD, it is especially common in children under ten years old, with outbreaks tending to occur in late summer and autumn.

Patients should practice good hand hygiene and keep away from others wherever possible.

Children with HFMD should not attend communal facilities if possible, so as to keep the risk of infection as low as possible for other people. Once the blisters have dried out, the children can normally attend communal facilities again without a written note from their doctor.

There is no specific treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease. Only the symptoms can be treated – by giving the patient medicine to reduce fever and pain, as well as mouthwashes.

Practising good hygiene reduces the risk of infection:

• Good hand hygiene is always important. Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water, especially after changing your child’s nappies, after helping them to use the toilet or after using the toilet yourself.
• Thoroughly clean any objects the patient has come into contact with – such as toys, door handles, etc.
• Avoid close contact (such as kissing, hugging) with HFMD patients.
• Do not share cutlery or drinking vessels.
• Talk to your doctor or health authority about whether you should consider using hand disinfectants or surface disinfectants.

Your local health authority can provide you with further advice and information.

Further information about the disease itself can be found on the website of the Robert Koch-Institut (www.rki.de/Hand-Fuss-Mund-Krankheit).

For information about using hygiene to guard against infection, please visit the website of the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (www.infektionsschutz.de).