Foot and mouth disease is highly contagious and commonly affects young children, especially those in daycare. Adults may be infected if they come into contact with contaminated surfaces or an infected child. Symptoms include fever, rash, blisters, and sore throat. Proper hygiene is important to prevent the spread of the disease.
Foot and mouth disease is a viral infection commonly seen in children under the age of ten but occurs very rarely in adults. However, the disease is highly contagious and can be passed on to an adult if they come into contact with a contaminated surface or an infected child. Most often the spread of this infection occurs due to lack of good hygiene and contact with unsterilized surfaces that have been touched by an infected person.
Most commonly, foot and mouth disease is a disease that affects young children. This disease is even more common in young children who attend some kind of daycare. In places like daycare, the number of children present can greatly increase the number of pathogens in the environment, making it much easier for the disease to spread from child to child.
Even extremely minor exposure to the virus that causes foot and mouth disease triggers the development of antibodies to protect against the virus. For this reason, most adults already carry the formation of antibodies that prevent them from becoming infected. These antibodies are only able to protect against the strain of the virus that was present at the initial exposure, so if an adult is exposed to another strain of the virus, they may be vulnerable to contracting the disease due to lack of immunity.
Symptoms of foot and mouth disease are usually not serious and can include fever, rash on the soles of the feet and palms, blisters in the mouth and sore throat. Children suffering from the disease are often irritable and complain of discomfort. It may take up to a week for these symptoms to appear after a person has come into contact with the virus, and during this time the infected individual is highly contagious. It is very common for adults to show no symptoms as they continue to carry and spread the virus.
FMD is generally spread through contact with feces, saliva or secretions from the throat or nose of affected individuals. It can also be passed from mother to child during childbirth if the mother carries the virus. If a child or adult does not use proper handwashing techniques or fails to disinfect surfaces that have been touched by bodily fluids, the disease can spread. Most of the time, adults are much more likely to practice proper personal and environmental hygiene than children under the age of ten, making it much more difficult for this disease to affect them.
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