What happens to the hand, foot and mouth disease epidemic in schools?

Recently, Shanghai is in the epidemic period of hand, foot and mouth disease. There are sporadic cases in schools and kindergartens, and there are serious clustering diseases. At this time, what should parents do? The CDC has written the following FAQs based on current problems in prevention and control and parents’ questions.

Q1: Where can the child be infected with hand, foot and mouth disease, what happens after the infection?

A1: From the results of previous disposal and monitoring, there have been cases of aggregation or sporadic cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in primary and secondary schools and child care institutions, community public recreation areas, private teaching institutions, and families. At present, most of the hand, foot and mouth disease is a mild case, there will be fever and herpes on the foot and mouth, but very severe cases will appear severe symptoms, high fever, lungs, brain symptoms, etc., need timely hospitalization.

Q2: Some classes are closed after the school has a foot and mouth disease. Many courses have been cancelled. What should I do if I have a problem?

A2: The stability of the school’s teaching order is related to the daily learning and arrangement of each student and parent. If isolation measures are not taken at the beginning of the spread of the disease, the impact on the teaching order will be greater when a major outbreak occurs. Therefore, in order not to cause a wider spread of the disease, according to the need for prevention and control, the class needs to be closed if necessary. Involved in the study courses, etc., the school will arrange measures such as remedial classes to minimize the impact.

Q3: Why is the child already isolated and will be sick?

A3: There are 2 possibilities. One is infected in school, is in an incubation period, and only happens when you go home. Another is that you are infected during the process of isolation from home.

Q4: The school has taken disinfection and morning inspection measures. Why are there still students suffering from the disease?

A4: There are several possibilities. First, the morning check failed to screen the sick students. Because the disease is at an early stage, the symptoms are not obvious. Therefore, parents need to cooperate to pay attention to the children’s health during the epidemic. If there is fever, rash, etc., see a doctor in time, and then send it to school after recovery; second, the child’s hand hygiene needs to be further strengthened. Because hand, foot and mouth disease is mainly infected by hand contact with pollutants, it is very important to educate children to wash their hands frequently. Third, the current social tutoring classes are very common, students are infected outside the school; fourth is the increase in the number of second-child families. Kindergartens are the mainstay, but if there is a source of infection in the family, the risk of being infected is also high; the fifth is infected in the public playground of the community. There are other ways of infection.

Therefore, in the event of a cluster of epidemics in schools or child care institutions, schools and parents need to cooperate with professional institutions to implement various prevention and control measures. In general, if the measures are taken right, the disease can be better controlled after 1-2 longest incubation periods, and it will have the effect of “quick fix”. If for various reasons, if you are unwilling to implement the measures, the disease is likely to spread and pass on. The ultimate damage is the health of the students and the normal teaching order of the school.

Q5: Children who are isolated from home are very bored. Can they be sent to the community for a cram school?

A5: It is recommended to stay at home during the isolated observation period, not to be in a crowded place, on the one hand to reduce the risk of infection, on the other hand, you may be in the incubation period and reduce the risk of infection.

Q6: Why do teachers have to check when they return to school? Is it not enough to return to school?

A6: With the proof of returning to school, in theory, the clinician who issued the certificate believes that the child’s superficial symptoms have healed. However, in some cases, the child’s rash still exists, or is still feverish, and does not completely heal. In this case, it is still contagious. In addition, in the initial stage of hand, foot and mouth disease symptoms, but there is still the possibility of detoxification, still infectious.

Then science time to isolate. According to the latest document, the isolation period for cases of hand, foot and mouth disease is: 1 week after the disappearance of symptoms; the medical observation period of close contacts is 14 days.

Q7: Why are one or two children infected with the entire class? And one off for two weeks?

A7: Many parents think that they are sick and have nothing to say, why the city gate is in flames, and the fish are in the pool. Healthy children should also be isolated from home. And the time is so long. This is related to the incubation period of the disease. If the incubation period of the disease is short, the observation time is short. If the incubation period of the disease is long, the observation time is extended accordingly.

The incubation period for hand, foot and mouth disease is generally 2-7 days, so the observation period set is 2 times the longest incubation period. If there are no new patients in the class within 14 days, it means that the epidemic has been extinguished.

Q8: Must I stay at home during the observation period?

A8: After a child is infected with hand, foot and mouth disease, the virus will only develop after a certain period of time in the body. In densely populated areas, it may be infected. In addition, it may infect others. Therefore, during the observation period, the activities of the out-of-town activities were reduced.

Q9: Why is it not recommended to stay in class with illness?

A9: Although it is a good spirit to stick to the class, it often has the opposite effect. On the one hand, children’s efficiency in class is reduced, on the other hand, they may infect other children. Some parents, due to practical difficulties, are very anxious to let the students return to school after the children are feverish, so that the children can take the antipyretic drugs and then send them to the school, which is not conducive to the recovery of the children. Therefore, professional institutions and schools do not recommend that children take the disease to insist on class.

Q10: Is there any poison in the disinfectant used in school? Why is it a taste?

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A10: Since the disinfectant may contain disinfectant components such as chlorine, there may be a taste in the air in the short term after spraying.

The disinfectant preparations approved by the state within the validity period are configured and used according to the standard method. The safety and effectiveness are obtained by authoritative certification, and parents can be assured. Moreover, according to the operating specifications, the worker will wipe off the disinfectant remaining on the surface of the object with water 1 hour after the disinfection of the drug. Therefore, regular disinfection is a safe and effective control method to control the spread of infectious diseases in crowded places.