Hand, foot & mouth disease mimics dengue symptoms, spreads panic

Kolkata: It’s creating a

dengue

scare, but it’s not the dreaded

disease

. Doctors and hospitals across Kolkata have reported hundreds of cases of panicked parents bringing in children with symptoms similar to those of dengue, but it’s something else: hand, foot and mouth disease.

Triggered by another contagious virus, the disease mostly affects children aged between two and 10 years. It causes fever along with rashes on the hands, mouth, tongue and lips, making it difficult to chew and swallow.

Hand, foot and mouth disease usually accompanies the dengue outbreak and spreads during the months of September and October. This time, it struck a little late, which is a saving grace, according to paediatrician Santanu Ray.

“It started spreading in the last week of September, which helped restrict the infection, since most schools closed for Puja holidays by October 2. Else, many more would have been affected, as the disease spreads largely through schools. Now that schools have reopened, a spread is imminent, which will lead to a renewed spurt in the number of patients. This time, the symptoms have been severe with high fever, body ache and rashes. Many have required hospitalization,” said Ray.

Although hand, foot and mouth disease is not as serious as dengue, the panic is understandable, since the outbreak coincided with the spread of dengue, and its symptoms mimic that of the mosquito-borne ailment that claims several lives each year. “Apart from the rashes, which are restricted to hands, feet and the mouth, the symptoms of the disease are close to that of dengue. Both cause high fever, headache and loss of appetite,” said Joydeep Ghosh, Fortis Hospital internal medicine consultant. In fact, it could often be more painful than dengue, he added. “The blisters produced by the virus make it difficult to chew and swallow.”

Another private hospital said parents of affected children were often mistaking hand, foot and mouth disease for dengue and insisting on admission. “Since the symptoms overlap, the scare is natural. It is important to treat the symptoms,” said a doctor.

This year, most affected children have been suffering from high fever for at least a week. “The rashes have been initially appearing inside the mouth, leading many to diagnose it as tonsilitis. They are spreading to the hands and feet later. But antibiotics should not be taken, and treatment has to be strictly symptomatic. Antibiotics should be prescribed only if there is an accompanying bacterial infection,” said Santanu Ray.

Hand, foot and mouth disease rarely affects children above 10 years old. It spreads from person to person through nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters or stool of patients. A child is most contagious during the first week of infection.

The disease is triggered by a common virus and usually begins in the throat. Intestinal viruses of the picornaviridae family trigger the disease and the symptoms usually develop between five and seven days.


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