a girl from my sons 1st grade class was sent home from school with blisters on her hands , i heard this is highly contagious , should i keep my son home from school until this clears up?
so why would they send her home then if she wasnt contagious and is it like chicken pox , once you get it you probably wont get it again?
Once the blisters are out, she's not contagious anymore--it's before that so he's already been exposed.
They were probably being extra cautious sending her home, but I agree--he's probably already been exposed to it if he's going to be exposed. It's also one of those viruses that's found everywhere children hang out. I wouldn't keep him home for fear of possible exposure.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/hfhf.htm
She was sent home b/c she is sick and sick children should not be at school. I wouldn't keep your son home, he's already been exposed and if he's going to get it, he is going to get it. IMO, parents needs to keep their sick children home in the first place so we don't have to question whether or not our healthy children go to school, however, with many illnesses, you don't even know your child is sick until after the incubation period and symptoms arise, at that point, contagious exposure has already occured, but when a child is sick , it is not fair to them to be at school or any place else other than home getting rest and being comforted.
You are contagious when you have the blisters. Once they are scabbed over you are no longer contagious. However, you are contagious way before the blisters ever show up. Your son has already been exposed. It has an incubation time of about 7 days (give or take).
Most schools send children home when they are ill to help minimize the exposure. For some reason we all seem to think that we're only contagious when we have the symptoms of a viral infections . That's not true. You are actually more contagious before you develop symptoms. At this point keeping your son out of school wouldn't do any good. Keep an eye on him and if he develops a fever or a rash, take him out of school. Hand foot and mouth is a virus, just like a cold is a virus. It's not all that horrible, it just has a horrible name. :) If he does get it, there's nothing you can do, beyond giving tylenol or motrin for the pain.
When they see a rash, they usually send them home. Sometimes they don't catch the earlier fever, or that has already passed by the time the blisters appear. I'm surprised your son hasn't had it before. This latest one was much less severe then one last year. I wouldn't keep him home.
Yup... My son just had it (he's 2). He was miserable BEFORE anything showed. I had no idea what was wrong because he doesn't know how to tell me that his throat feels like it's on fire. None of the other daycare kids caught it from him... At least no one said anything. As soon as he got a fever (on a Sat evening), I decided he would be out of daycare for the week. That might be why no one else got it.
Also, what our pedi said is that only 1 in 10 kids get the blisters. My son didn't ever get the blisters on his hands, feet, or in his mouth. He just got the fever and ulcers on his throat. When I asked what I could do for such a sore throat and him only being 2... Doc said, "Prescription is ice cream..." He went on to say, anything dairy. Milk, yogurt, pudding, ice cream, and my son still ate his bananas like crazy.
But, it's a virus. Kids get harsher symptoms than any of us adults would. I caught it from my son. I just had cold like symptoms. The other ladies already mentioned that it's contagious for 7-10days. Even before any symptoms show.
Good luck!
No - the girl will not be allowed to come back to school until they have a dr's notice that she is all better. You can go in personally to make sure they have cleaned and disintected the classroom and school.
No you should not. If the kid already had blisters, your son has already been exposed. Your kid is exposed to illnesses probably every day at elementary school and you will not know every time it happens - even if you did, your kid would miss every school day. Kids are sent to school with pinkeye and strep throat and school will not inform you when a kid is sent home due to suspected illness.Your kid will get sick sometimes by catching something at school, it's just part of life when you send them to school
Hi M.,
Just went to the Dr. yesterday with my 17 month old. Thought it was an ear infection or teething. Turns out it's hfmd (also called Coxsackie virus). I asked about exposure to my other son (4 1/2 years old) and the dr. said "Didn't he have it already?" and I said yes. He said I didn't have to worry about it then. So if you get it once, you won't get it again. Could you? Sure, anything's possible, but it's highly unlikely. Oh, and fyi, both my sons had NO blisters on hands or feet. They only had them in their throat which is why I never thought it was hfmd before they were diagnosed. While hfmd is highly unpleasant to deal with (they feel so blah - poor things) the good part is that it's a fairly short illness time - duration of actually beind sick is 4 to 6 days. Good luck :o)
No you should not keep him home. You cannot keep him in a bubble.
Updated
No you should not keep him home. You cannot keep him in a bubble.
Well hopefully she not be attending school these next few days. However, he was in the class with her already so if it was going to happen I think its a little to late. I least the school knew enough to send the child home. I will send him to class or maybe keep him for a day to ease you mind. Ask the teacher if they are sterilizing the childs area. :)
He's already been exposed, but won't necessarily get it. My son was in preschool with a kid who had it, and no one else in the class got it.
