HFMD sage...

My worst fear of Xavier contacting Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) from his infant care has finally come. He was the fourth kid to contact it, coming down with fever on Tuesday. To date there are 6 known cases of HFMD in his class and a 7th unconfirmed case. While I can be angry about it, I understand there is only so much the center could do to prevent the spread.

You see, the incubation period of HFMD is about 3 to 7 days. This means the kid can be infected and show no symptoms (such as fever, red spots, blisters, sore throats, etc) for like 3 days. And probably already spreading it via direct contact of mucus and saliva with other kids.

Although kids below 5 years old are more likely to get it, adults are not spare. Lilian had it earlier this year and strangely (but thankfully) Xavier did not catch it. Anyway you can read more about it in the wikipedia site or the health promotion board online. Below records Xavier's HFMD saga...

Day -1 (Mon) - We were told of two gals having HFMD over the weekend. Their last day at school was Friday.

Day 0 (Tues) - Xavier was ok in the morning with no signs of HFMD. However, he develop fever in the afternoon and the teacher from his center called us to pick him up. He had very few suspicious spots. Bought him to see Dr. Chee at night. This was the first time he didn't ask for biscuit from Dr. Chee. The verdict was its likely HFMD but not confirm. That night, his fever yoyo up and down, at one point was 39.3°C.

Day 1 - In the morning, the signs were clearer. He had more spots and the yoyo fever continues. He had really lose his appetite and had only 120ml of milk and some small bites of food the whole day. He was also in a foul mood and lethargic.

Day 2 - Today's spots were the worse (see photo at the top of the post). His appetite is better than yesterday but still very low from his usual standard. He was also beginning to scratch the spots. Poor boy. Fever seems to be gone which is good news.

Day 3 to 6 - Recovery seems to be in place as his fever is gone and he has no new spots. The old spots began to heal and are not as clustered as before.

Day 7 - Got the green light from Dr. Chee to go back to infant care. And on this visit, he did ask for the biscuit.

Day 9 - Bad news, my dad seems to show signs of HFMD too with the yoyo fever. No spots yet. Let's hope its not.