Children with hand, foot and mouth disease must be isolated for 10 days.

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine, the number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases up to this point has increased by more than 52% compared to the same period last year. Experts recommend that as the new school year approaches, parents absolutely must not be negligent and subjective, creating conditions for the disease to spread...

According to statistics, in week 33/2023, the country recorded 5,727 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, with no deaths. Compared to the previous week, the number of cases decreased by 12.4%. Accumulated from the beginning of the year, the country recorded 68,096 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, including 18 deaths. Compared to the same period in 2022, the number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases this year up to this point increased by 52.3%, the number of deaths increased by 15 cases.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is an infectious disease circulating in Vietnam mainly caused by Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackie A16. The disease can occur in all subjects, however, up to 90% of cases occur in children under 3 years old. The EV71 strain often causes severe illness and can easily lead to complications and death. In our country, from the beginning of 2023 until now, the rate of cases positive for the EV71 strain has increased. This characteristic makes hand, foot and mouth disease cases more severe than in previous years.

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine, now is the time to start the new school year, there is a high risk of spreading hand, foot and mouth disease if schools and especially preschools and family nurseries do not implement good personal and environmental hygiene measures to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease. Specific preventive measures are:

1. Personal hygiene: Wash hands regularly with soap under running water many times a day (both adults and children), especially before preparing food, before eating/feeding children, before holding children, after using the toilet, after changing diapers and cleaning children.

2. Food hygiene: Children's food must be nutritious; cooked food and boiled water; eating and drinking utensils must be washed thoroughly before use (preferably soaked in boiling water); use clean water in daily activities; do not feed children; do not let children eat with their hands, suck their fingers, or suck on toys; do not let children share napkins, handkerchiefs, eating and drinking utensils such as cups, bowls, plates, spoons, and toys that have not been sterilized.

3. Clean toys and living areas: Households, kindergartens, and home childcare centers need to regularly clean surfaces and objects that come into daily contact such as toys, learning tools, doorknobs, stair handrails, table/chair surfaces, and floors with soap or common detergents.

4. Collection and treatment of children's waste: Use hygienic toilets, children's feces and waste must be collected, treated and dumped into hygienic toilets.

5. Early detection monitoring: Children must be regularly monitored for their health to promptly detect, isolate, and treat cases of illness, avoiding the spread of disease to other children.

6. Isolate and treat promptly when the disease occurs: Nursery schools, kindergartens, concentrated child care groups and households with children under 6 years old need to proactively monitor the health of children to promptly detect and immediately take them to medical facilities for timely treatment. Sick children must be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of the disease, do not allow children showing symptoms of the disease to go to class or play with other children, and immediately take them to medical facilities for examination and treatment.