{"id":3404,"date":"2025-10-23T16:17:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/norfolk\/?p=3404"},"modified":"2025-10-23T16:17:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:17:17","slug":"take-action-against-hand-food-mouth-disease-hfmd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/norfolk\/2025\/10\/23\/take-action-against-hand-food-mouth-disease-hfmd\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Action Against Hand, Food, Mouth Disease (HFMD)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A common viral illness, HFMD usually affects infants and children younger than five years old. However, it can sometimes occur in older children and adults. HFMD is spread from person to person by close contact with an infected person or contact with virus-contaminated surfaces. Infected persons are most contagious during the first week of illness.<\/p>\n<p>Symptoms of HFMD include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fever<\/li>\n<li>Sore throat<\/li>\n<li>Painful mouth sores that blister<\/li>\n<li>Rash commonly found on the hands and feet<\/li>\n<li>Poor appetite<\/li>\n<li>A general feeling of being unwell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To prevent spreading to others, children with HFMD should not go to school or childcare for at least 24 hours after fever is gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine and they have no uncontrolled drooling due to mouth sores.<\/p>\n<p>Prevention Tips!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wash hands<\/strong>\u00a0often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Avoid touching your face.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clean and disinfect<\/strong>\u00a0frequently touched surfaces and shared items.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid close contact<\/strong>\u00a0with people who have HFMD.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cover\u00a0<\/strong>your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most people get better on their own in seven to 10 days with minimal or no medical\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hand-foot-mouth\/about\/index.html#cdc_disease_basics_treatment-treatment-and-recovery\">treatment<\/a>. If you have questions about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/epidemiology\/epidemiology-fact-sheets\/hand-foot-and-mouth-disease\/\">HFMD<\/a>, contact your healthcare provider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A common viral illness, HFMD usually affects infants and children younger than five years old. However, it can sometimes occur in older children and adults. HFMD is spread from person to person by close contact with an infected person or contact with virus-contaminated surfaces. Infected persons are most contagious during the first week of illness. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":3405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"modified_by":"lizadelacruz","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Take Action Against Hand, Food, Mouth Disease (HFMD) - Norfolk Health Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/norfolk\/2025\/10\/23\/take-action-against-hand-food-mouth-disease-hfmd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take Action Against Hand, Food, Mouth Disease (HFMD) - Norfolk Health Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A common viral illness, HFMD usually affects infants and children younger than five years old. 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