clinical features
Last reviewed 11/2021
Symptoms of the disease usually last for 7 to 10days (1).
- it begins with a prodrome of sore throat, dysphagia, pyrexia of 38 to 39 degrees centigrade, poor appetite and malaise for one or two days (2)
- mouth lesions
- appears one or two days after the fever
- vesicles are seen in the oral cavity, on the buccal mucosa and sides of the tongue
- these vesicles begin as small red spots which form bullae and ulcerate (3)
- skin lesions
- seen in around 75% of cases (3)
- a typical eruption appears on the hands and feet, and in small children occasionally on the buttocks
- the lesions consist of tender papules and clear vesicles with a surrounding zone of erythema
Reference:
- (1) Health Protection Agency 2005. HPA North West. Hand, foot & mouth disease
- (2) Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2008. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases - Division of Viral Diseases. Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD)
- (3) Frydenberg A and Starr M. Hand, foot and mouth disease. Australian Family Physician 2003;32(8)