Doctors see hand, foot and mouth disease make comeback in N.B.

Common childhood illnesses may be making a comeback after a lull during the pandemic, says a Saint John pediatrician.

Doctors in primary care and emergency departments are seeing "a huge influx" of many viruses, said Dr. Sarah Gander.

"Working last night in the hospital, it seems sort of relentless," she said.

One of the illnesses going around is hand, foot and mouth disease.

Health Department spokesperson Adam Bowie acknowledged there have been anecdotal reports of the disease in recent months, but said it's not considered an outbreak. 

Case numbers aren't known, he said, because instances of the disease don't have to be reported to Public Health.

The season for certain viruses

However, according to a public health document, this is the time of year that particular illness tends to be most widespread. The number of cases peaks in summer and early fall, it said.

It also explains that hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by certain types of coxsackie virus or enteroviruses and typically affects children under 10. 

Symptoms include fever, runny nose or sore throat, said the public health document, followed by small sores in the mouth a couple of days later and then red spots on the hands and feet that may turn into blisters.

Transmission can happen a couple of ways, said Gander — through droplets, such as from sneezes or open blisters, or the "fecal-oral route," such as from changing diapers and not properly washing your hands afterwards.

A person may be infected and contagious for a couple of days before showing symptoms, she said.

"You can imagine why it goes through daycares like wildfire."

Luckily, said Gander, the symptoms are only severe for a small number of children.

Adults are rarely infected, she said, because they've usually had previous exposure and developed immunity.

If they do get it, it can be pretty rough, said Gander, with more lesions and pain then children typically experience.

"The thing that tends to bring folks to hospital is that the lesions in the mouth make it hard and painful to eat and drink. And so then they get dehydrated."

In those cases, she said, a patient may need intravenous hydration, observation of their fluids or help with pain control "if it's not working out at home."

Fewer children than usual picked up illnesses such as hand, foot and mouth disease in recent years, said Gander — an aspect of the pandemic she described as "kind of glorious" to pediatricians.

Rise in cases after pandemic rules dropped

"They didn't get anything because of masks and handwashing and isolation and low ratios and all that kind of stuff."

That has changed in the last six months, she said, "in our attempt to get back to a new normal."

"It's a lot at one go."

"People are coming in with two or three positive viruses on their screens at one time. So they can get quite sick with that."

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But apart from the rare cases that need medical intervention, getting sick with this type of thing is a normal part of childhood, said Gander.

"I've spent many years of my career reassuring parents [that] kids are supposed to get viruses."

"I know it seems like a lot," she said.

"If anybody's had a child in their first year of daycare, it doesn't even seem possible that they can be sick that often, but it's meant to happen to build their immune system."