What causes hand, foot and mouth disease?

Hand, foot and mouth disease can occur in any season, especially in hot weather, when various bacteria spread, which is the peak season for this disease. At the same time, this disease is more common in children. If it is not treated in time, it will cause great harm to the children's body. So, how is hand, foot and mouth disease caused?

1. Causes of disease

There are several viruses that can cause hand, foot and mouth disease. The most common is coxsackievirus A16, but other strains of coxsackievirus A or enterovirus 71 can also cause hand, foot and mouth disease. Coxsackievirus is a type of enterovirus. Enteroviruses include poliovirus, coxsackievirus and echovirus. The infection site is the entire digestive tract, including the mouth. It enters the body through contaminated food, drinks, fruits, etc., and multiplies in the intestines.

Hand, foot and mouth disease mainly occurs in children under 4 years old, but adults may also get the disease, so it can be said that everyone is susceptible. After infection, you will only gain immunity to the type of virus, and there is no cross-immunity to reinfection with other types of viruses, that is, after contracting hand, foot and mouth disease, you may contract hand, foot and mouth disease again due to infection with other types of viruses.

2. Pathogenesis

Foot-and-mouth disease virus belongs to the family of small RNA viruses, now known as aphoviruses. It is a spherical particle with a diameter of 22 to 30 nm. There are 7 different serotypes: A, O, C, SATI, SATZ, SAT3 and Asia-1. There are at least 63 subtypes. The type distribution in each epidemic area is different, and there is no cross-immunity between the types. Almost all those isolated from humans are type O, and occasionally type C. The source of infection is animals with foot-and-mouth disease. The blood, skin and mucous membrane secretions, saliva, urine, feces, and milk of sick animals all carry the virus. Most of the time, the virus enters the human body through tiny wounds on the skin when directly contacting sick animals or milking. Occasionally, the virus can be infected by eating contaminated milk, cheese, butter or other dairy products, and even eating the meat and bones of sick cows can also cause infection. It is difficult for people to infect each other.

The above content is an introduction to the causes of hand, foot and mouth disease. Through understanding, we know that there are still many causes of the disease, so we must do some preventive work on these causes, so as to protect the child’s health from the harm of the disease. We should also pay more attention to rest.