(WBRE/WYOU) — Hand, foot, and mouth disease: It's a condition we often hear about in the colder months, and it's highly contagious. But what is it?
28/22 News Reporter Joe Mason explains the symptoms and prevention.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is most common in children under the age of 5, but anyone can get it, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
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While the condition is more irritating than serious, it's very contagious. It can spread quickly in places like schools and daycare centers, where kids are often playing and in close contact.
Symptoms may include a fever, a sore throat, and painful mouth sores that blister. The telltale sign of the viral infection is a rash on the hands and feet.
Stephanie Tanona is a nurse practitioner at the Wright Center. "It does travel through the air. It does travel. It lands on surfaces; it can live on surfaces. Or if the blisters are open, and you were to touch the fluid coming out of the blister. It can also be passed through fecal matter, so when changing diapers, if a child has hand, foot, and mouth, if a parent was to touch that, they could get hand, foot, and mouth, or if another child was to touch it," Tanona explained.
She says the condition comes and goes relatively quickly
"Seven to ten days, just like any other viral illness. So, there is no real, true treatment. It's symptomatic treatment for the disease," Tanona told 28/22 News.
A statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Health says, "Hand, foot, and mouth (HFMD) disease is not a reportable condition in Pennsylvania, so statewide case counts are not available. HFMD would only be reportable if it were associated with an outbreak. Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has not been made aware of any HFMD outbreaks in 2025."
To prevent hand, foot, and mouth disease, be sure to wash your hands frequently, clean often-used surfaces, and try to avoid close contact with others.
