CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the emergence of HFMD is another challenge for the surveillance and control of infectious diseases. Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infection caused by a bunch of viruses. HFMD spreads widely in children and infants. It usually occurs in children less than five year, but can sometimes occur in adults too. 

Although the rate of transmission of HFMD is high, it can still be prevented if all parties play a role. Parents play an important role in examining the health of their children at home because if HFMD can be identified earlier it is easy to cure. Immediately bring your child to a doctor if they have HFMD symptoms and take preventative measures to prevent this disease from spreading. The main cleaning steps prevent these hand, foot and mouth disease. 

Parents should ensure that children maintain personal hygiene and surroundings for example wash their hands before eating or after returning from the public place and clean floors because HFMD viruses are everywhere. HFMD is an infectious and fatal disease if severe. The best way to prevent this disease from becoming an epidemic is to practice hygiene by everyone. 

Preventive and continuous surveillance activities throughout the year are necessary to detect epidemics in each district. Therefore, preventive measures can be taken as early as possible to prevent this disease from spreading which can cause large epidemics and mass death. 

To recall back whatever that we have learn earlier here in this blog you can click the link below to understand more through Prezi presentation. Thank you :))

https://prezi.com/p/jdyktcrvdsj9/hfmd/

HOW TO PREVENT HFMD (Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease)

Protect your children from HFMD, by teaching them good hygiene practices such as:

• Washing hands with soap and water before and after going to the toilet
• Covering the mouth and nose with a piece of tissue when coughing or sneezing
• Avoid sharing food/drinks, eating utensils, toothbrushes, or towels with others
• Ensuring that toys or appliances that are contaminated by nasal or oral secretions are disinfected by dettol before they are used again
• Putting on a face mask when feeling unwell 

In addition, do these four steps before sending your child to the school, kindergarten or childcare center every day:

• Take your child's temperature
• Look for mouth ulcers. Ask your child to open the mouth and look for ulcers on the tongue, inner sides of the mouth and on the lips
• Look for blister on the hands. Ask your child to hold out the hands and show his/her palms. Look for small pinkish or reddish bumps or tiny blisters with fluids. Then check for the same on the back of the hands
• Look for blisters on the feet. Check for bumps or blisters on the upper part of the feet and the soles

If you observe any of the above, do not send your child to the school, kindergarten or childcare center. Instead, take him/her to a family doctor for a thorough examination. If your child is diagnosed with HFMD, please keep him/her at home, returning only after the expiry of the medical certificate (MC) and when fully recovered. 

THE CAUSES AND TRANSMISSION OF HFMD (Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease)

Causes

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a highly contagious infection among the children. It is caused by viruses from the Enterovirus genus, which is polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, and other enteroviruses.

The most common cause of hand, foot, and mouth disease IS Coxsackievirus A16.

Enterovirus 71 has also been associated with cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Enterovirus 71 has been associated with severe disease, such as encephalitis as well. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain. 

Coxsackievirus A16

Transmission

The viruses that cause hand, foot, and mouth disease can be found in an infected person’s :

· nose and throat secretions (such as saliva, sputum, or nasal mucus)

· blister fluid

· feces

You can get exposed to the viruses that cause hand, foot, and mouth disease through

· close personal contact, such as hugging or kissing an infected person

· the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes

· contact with feces, such as changing diapers of an infected person

· contact with contaminated objects and surfaces

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is not transferred or transmitted from animals. 

Children under the age of 5 years are most at risk of catching HFMD as their immune system is not fully developed yet. Where their antibodies to fight against the disease is not secreted by their B cells. 

THE SYMPTOMS OF HFMD (Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease)

Do you know that Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) may cause all the following signs and symptoms or just some of them ?

• Fever
• Sore throat 
• Not feeling well 
• Painful, red, blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums, and inside of the cheeks
• A red rash, without any irritation but sometimes with blistering, on the palms, soles, and sometimes on the buttocks
• Always happen among the infants and toddlers
• Poor appetite

How long it takes for the symptoms to appear ?

• Fever, loss of appetite, runny nose, and sore throat can appear 3 to 5 days after exposure
• A blister-like rash on the hands, feet and in the mouth usually develops 1 to 2 days after the initial symptoms

Where does hand, foot, and mouth disease symptoms start to show up?

• Usually begin as small red spots
• Often in back of mouth and can become painful
• Also appear on knees, elbows, buttocks or genital area
• Virus that causes hand, foot and mouth diseases can live in a person's body for weeks, even after symptoms disappear

Can a person get HFMD again ?

• Older children's and adults can get it too
• If a person ever gets HFMD, it is possible for the people to get the disease again
• This is because HFMD caused by several different viruses
• When someone get HFMD they develop immunity or we called as protection of our body to the specific virus that caused infection

Foods that we can eat when having HFMD :

• Eggs
• Coconut water
• Soup 
• Papaya 
• Greek yogurt with honey
• Watermelon 
• Porridge or Congee
• Tofu
• Ice Cream
• Mashed Potato

WHAT IS HFMD?

What is HFMD? We always heard this acronym but do you know what is it stands for? HFMD or Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease is a contagious illness caused by a group of viruses. It spreads through direct contact with the saliva, blister fluid or faeces of an infected person. This disease commonly happens in infants and children below 5 years old as they do not yet have the immunity to the viruses that cause HFMD. Even though it is often referred to young children, this disease can also happen to older children and adults.

HFMD is usually not severe, and most people even without getting medical treatment can recover in 7 to 10 days. However, there are some rare cases that an infected person can develop viral meningitis which need to be hospitalized for a few days. Besides, other rare complications such as encephalitis (brain inflammation) or polio-like paralysis may be fatal.

This disease may happen to a person not only once as it is caused by several different viruses. Furthermore, when someone gets HFMD, they will develop their immunity or protection to the specific virus that caused their infection.

Diagram 1: Number of HFMD Cases by State

Based on the diagram above, the number of HFMD cases by state in Malaysia was recorded from 1^st of January until 1^st of August in 2018. In eight months only, the total number of HFMD cases were 41,798 cases. The state that recorded the highest number of HFMD cases was Selangor with 12,465 cases. Meanwhile, the lowest number of HFMD cases was recorded by Perlis with only 255 cases.