Hand-foot-and-mouth disease hits Waitsburg

WAITSBURG – Parents of Waitsburg students will want to be sure their children are washing their hands well and often. The school district has sent out two emails letting parents know that hand-foot-and-mouth disease has been reported present in the school.

School nurse Stacy Schwarz, who is in the district one to two times a month, said only one confirmed case has been reported so far.

The disease is very contagious, and the spread of infection can be reduced by practicing good hygiene, such as washing hands often.

"We want to encourage hand washing to prevent not only HFM, but influenza and the common cold, also," Schwarz said.

There is no specific treatment for the disease, though a doctor can give some ideas to help with pain, if needed.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, symptoms may include all or some of the following:

*Fever

*Sore throat

*Feeling of being unwell

*Painful, red blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums and inside of the cheeks

*A red rash, without itching but sometimes with blistering, on the palms, soles of feet and sometimes, the buttocks

*Irritability in infants and toddlers

*Loss of appetite

A fever is often the first sign of the disease, followed by a sore throat and sometimes poor appetite and malaise. Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is usually a minor illness causing only a few days of fever and relatively mild symptoms. Contact a doctor if mouth or throat sores prevent a child from drinking fluids or if the symptoms worsen after a few days.

Head lice

Some parents commented in response to the school district’s Facebook post about HFM, saying that head lice is also making the rounds and that parents should be notified of that as well.

Schwarz says she has only hear rumors of head lice as of now.

Sending children with head lice home and notifying district parents was once standard procedure, but current OSPI Infectious Disease Control Guidelines stress maintaining confidentiality for the student. School nurses and staff are to make a referral to a health care provider and provide instructions to the family on how to treat the infestation. Students are no longer typically sent home and a district notification is not issued.

The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidelines in 2010 to recommend that students with head lice not be excluded from school. The National Association of School Nurses followed suit in 2011. The policy shift is designed to keep children from missing class, shield them from embarrassment and protect privacy.

"Students diagnosed with live head lice do not need to be sent home early from school; they can go home at the end of the day, be treated, and return to class after treatment has begun," Schwarz said.

Schwarz said lice don't fly, the only crawl, and they live about 24 hours off of the human host.

"They like clean hair just as much as they like dirty hair," she said.

Tips to prevent head lice include:

*Don't share items like combs, barettes, hats, hair ties, ear buds, etc.

*Avoid activities that lead to head-to-head contact.

*Keep belongings, especially upper body clothing, away from shared areas like coat closets.

*Put a drop of Tea Tree Oil in your shampoo.