More about Herpangina

Well I am up again waiting for Chase to go back to sleep but I don't think it will be very long. He seems to be managing better. He also finally had some milk, he hasn't eaten since Sunday morning. He soaked his diaper as well, he didn't have a wet diaper in over six hours which was a sign he was starting to dehydrate.

I thought I'd share a little bit more about herpangina. It comes from the virus coxsackievirus. A child starts to become sick with the infection about 4-6 days after it enters the body. It starts with a really high fever and soon after the blisters start to appear. The worst of the pain is over within 48-72 hours then starts to subside. So we just have to make it through 1-2 more days. I am hoping though the pain has already started to subside. I am sure it is incredibly rough on such a young baby to deal with. Usually about 2-5 blisters form in the mouth. Chase only has 2 and I don't think any more are going to form...at least I hope not. At any point during the infection a fever can return. I made sure to stock up on the Be Kool strips in case this happens. Antibiotics don't help with the virus. Like I said before, it is spread through children and people not washing their hands. The virus lives in respiratory secretions and fecal matter. You can see how it is easily spreadable by people not washing their hands, especially after using the bathroom. So any parent reading this, I encourage you to encourage your child to be a thorough handwasher. It takes 30 seconds for soap to become activated and kills germs on the hands. If the soap is washed off any quicker than this, then it's just like not even washing your hands. Make sure you and your kids are rubbing the soap in your hands for 30 seconds ( I read in Parenting magazine 3o seconds is equivalent to singing the Happy Birthday song twice, so you can have your child sing that song twice before rinsing the soap off.)