Source: CCTV.com
01-20-2009 11:37
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Many people don’t know hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD). When they hear the name, they think of it as a new infectious disease.
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Hand foot and mouth disease isn’t a new disease. It was discovered 50 years ago. Xiaopeng, a small boy, is one of the HFMD patients we encountered at the Beijing Children's Hospital. His mother is holding him in her arms. Because of the disease, his buttocks are now covered with sores and blisters. He is constantly crying from the aching pain. Are sores the main symptom of this disease?
Hand foot and mouth disease isn’t a new disease. It was discovered 50 years ago. Xiaopeng, a small boy, is one of the HFMD patients we encountered at the Beijing Children's Hospital. His mother is holding him in her arms. Because of the disease, his buttocks are now covered with sores and blisters. He is constantly crying from the aching pain. Are sores the main symptom of this disease?
We conducted a random survey and found that even the people who have heard of about HFMD have misunderstandings about it.
Is HFMD a cousin of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in animals?
FMD mainly infects cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs, cattle and sheep. There are many strains of the disease and not many of them can infect humans. Only when humans come into contact with animals infected with these strains of FMD can they be infected. HFMD is unrelated to FMD as it is caused by a type of human intestinal virus. It is spread through direct contact with saliva, feces or mucus.
After hearing such an explanation, Xiaopeng's mother becomes very worried, because Xiaopeng has a twin brother who plays with him every day. But his brother has not displayed any symptoms of HFMD.
It seems that HFMD spreads very easily. At kindergartens and playgrounds, there are many children. If one of them is infected with HFMD, how can the other children prevent it from spreading?
