Manifestations of hand, foot and mouth disease in children in the full-blown stage

Symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease in children include fever, sore mouth sores, and vesicular rash on the skin and vary by incubation, onset, and full course.

Before hand, foot and mouth disease in children reaches the full-blown stage, there will be an incubation period and an onset phase.
The incubation period for hand, foot and mouth disease lasts about 3-7 days. Manifestations of hand, foot and mouth disease in children in this period are usually not obvious, mild and transient, only mild fever, sore throat, salivation, loss of appetite, mild diarrhea, and children seem less flexible.
At the onset stage, children can have a fever as high as 39 - 40oC and show typical symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease with a rash at specific locations on the skin. Due to sore throat and high fever, the child is fussy and may refuse to eat.

The full stage of hand, foot and mouth disease in children can last 3-10 days with the following symptoms:
Mouth sores, a blister-like rash on the palms, feet, knees, buttocks and persists for a long time. short time (less than 7 days) but then can leave bruises, rarely cause ulcers or superinfection. The skin lesions clear up on their own within 1 week, dry blisters will leave skin bruises, no ulcers. Children with high fever and vomiting can lead to the risk of complications on the nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

Therefore, during this period, parents need to take care of and clean their children carefully; Check the skin signs to distinguish hand, foot and mouth disease from other skin rash diseases such as typhus, allergies, pyoderma, chickenpox, meningococcal bacteremia, dengue fever .
After 3-5 days from the onset of symptoms, the child recovers completely if there are no complications – this is the period of remission.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is usually a mild illness that causes fever for only a few days. The signs and symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease in children are relatively mild. However, the mother should still take the baby to the doctor to determine the correct disease and have appropriate care advice.
In case the fever is more than 38 degrees Celsius for children under 3 months old and higher than 39 degrees Celsius for children under 6 months, the mother should take the baby to the doctor.

Children with a high fever above 39 degrees Celsius without fever for 2 days also need to be taken to the hospital.
If the baby has a sore throat and cannot drink or eat less than usual, it is necessary to take the baby to the doctor because it can easily lead to dehydration, which is life-threatening.
Currently, there is no specific treatment for hand, foot and mouth disease, only focusing on supportive treatment (do not use antibiotics when there is no superinfection). Therefore, parents need to closely monitor to detect early and treat complications as soon as there are signs. The care process needs to ensure adequate nutrition and improve the health of the child.


If you have unusual symptoms, you should be examined and consulted with a specialist.