The treatment for hand foot and mouth syndrome aims to relieve symptoms such as high fever, sore throat and painful blisters on the hands, feet or intimate area. Treatment should be done under the guidance of the pediatrician and symptoms usually disappear within a week after starting treatment, which can be done with:
- Remedy for fever, such as Paracetamol; Anti-inflammatory, such as Ibuprofen, if the fever is above 38 ° C; Ointments for itching or remedies, such as Polaramine; Remedies for thrush, such as Omcilon-A Orabase or Lidocaine.
Hand-foot-mouth syndrome is a contagious disease caused by a virus, which can be transmitted to other people through direct contact with another person or through contaminated food or objects. This disease is more common in children under 5 years old and symptoms appear between 3 to 7 days after infection by the virus. Understand more about hand-foot-mouth syndrome.
Care during treatment
It is important to take some precautions during the treatment of the hand-foot-mouth syndrome, as it can be transmitted through coughing, sneezing or saliva, through direct contact with blisters that have burst or infected feces.
Thus, some precautions that must be maintained during treatment include:
- Keep the child at rest at home, without going to school or daycare, so as not to contaminate other children; Consume cold foods, such as natural juices, mashed fresh fruit, gelatin or ice cream, for example; Avoid hot, salty or acidic foods, such as soft drinks or snacks, so as not to make sore throats worse - Know what to eat to relieve sore throats; Gargling with water and salt to help relieve sore throats; Drink water or natural juices for the child not to dehydrate; Wash your hands after going to the bathroom to prevent transmission of the virus, even after recovery, as the virus can still be transmitted through the stool for about 4 weeks. See how to wash your hands properly; If your child wears a diaper, change the diaper with gloves and wash your hands after changing the diaper, both at home and at the daycare, even after recovery.
When the symptoms of the disease disappear, the child can go back to school, taking care to wash his hands after going to the bathroom. Learn how to avoid infectious diseases.
When to go to the doctor
The hand-foot-mouth syndrome naturally improves between one and two weeks, but it is necessary to go back to the pediatrician if the child has a fever above 39ºC, which does not go away with the drugs, weight loss, production of little urine or dark urine and bottles very red, swollen and with pus release. In addition, if the child has dry skin and mouth and drowsiness, it is important to take it to the pediatrician.
This is because normally these symptoms are indicative that the child is dehydrated or that the blisters are infected. In this case, the child should be taken to the hospital immediately to receive serum through the vein or antibiotics, in case of infection of the blisters.
Signs of improvement
Signs of improvement in hand-foot-mouth syndrome include a decrease and disappearance of thrush and blisters, as well as fever and sore throat.
Signs of worsening
Signs of worsening hand-foot-mouth syndrome appear when treatment is not performed correctly and include an increase in fever, thrush and blisters, which may become red, swollen or begin to release pus, drowsiness, little urine output or dark urine. Know other causes of dark urine.
