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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

'Tis The Season... For Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease

Last week, students on the soccer and football teams at North Country Union High School were stopped in their tracks by a mysterious rash on their feet and hands. Hand, foot and mouth disease is actually more common among children under five years old, but it can affect adults too … and it is more common this time of year.

Vermont Edition spoke with Dr. Breena Holmes, the director of Maternal & Child Health at the Department of Health about the disease. "The name of the disease comes from the places where you see tiny blisters (in the mouth, on the fingers and on the bottoms of the feet). It also has the symptoms of a regular old runny nose, sore throat, cough and fever," said Holmes.

The virus is transmitted through the air through coughing and sneezing. "It is also passed by direct contact (touching surfaces containing the virus), and through stool," Holmes said.

Dr. Holmes warns that this virus as a predilection for late summer/early fall: "Unlike some of the other viruses that we’re used to seeing in the winter, this is our “back to school” virus."

For more information about Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, you can visit the Vermont Department of Health website: http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/hfm/index.aspx

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.
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