A doctor in Southern Health-Sante Sud admits there's been an increase in Hand, Foot and Mouth disease in the region this summer. Dr. Denis Fortier says this isn't surprising, as the condition tends to peak during the summer and into the fall. He explains that Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease is exactly what it sounds like and falls within the Enterovirus family. In particular, it is a fairly unique rash that appears primarily in those three spots on the body. 

Dr. Denis Fortier

"Enteroviruses tend to have gastrointestinal-type symptoms; diarrhea, vomiting, low-grade fever, those kinds of things and there are subgroups of this Enterovirus...which can cause this particular type of rash to develop."

Dr. Fortier goes on to explain the virus spreads via the fecal/oral route.

"It's basically a virus that's in your bowels...and if you happen to not use proper hand hygiene you can transmit the virus to somebody else who then ingests the virus and the pattern continues."

He's not exactly sure why Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease seems more prevalent during the summer and fall seasons, except that all enteroviruses seem to have predominance during those months and then dip down in the winter.

"That's not to say that we never see it in winter, because we do... it's just that the pattern is primarily summer-time in the northern hemisphere."

Fortier adds daycare facilities tend to be unfairly targeted as hot spots for the virus and is quick to point out that it can occur in many other environments.

"To be perfectly honest, most of us adults have probably had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, or the viruses that cause this, in our lifetime so we tend to see it less often in adults whereas children under the age of seven generally have not been exposed to the virus...and of course many of those children under the age of seven attend daycare or something like that."

If your child does start to show symptoms of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease and does attend daycare on a regular basis, Fortier recommends you keep your child at home at least until the rash disappears.

"They tend to be shedding the virus for a couple of days prior to the actual rash coming out so that's a bit of a problem...that virus can shed through the bowels anywhere from four to six weeks after. So we're not telling people to keep their children home for four to six weeks, we tend to ask to keep children home as long as the rash is there because there is some potential for it to spread just from the secretions of the rash itself."

He again stresses the importance of practicing good hand hygiene to cut the risk and spread of the virus.