All About HFMD
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HPB did issue a warning a month back on the expected epidemic for HFMD coming up in September. Hopefully parents will do their part in helping stop the risk of infection by exercising their common sense and civility. Remember that your child can get re-infected even if he or she recovers from an earlier attack.
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happydaddy:
Errr.....This MCYS har... why they can't issue a statement, kid who has HFMD, their sibling cannot go school too????
My son class, got one boy's sis in another CC, got HFMD. But this boy is perfectly ok, but to play safe, we write in our concern to the centre, the centre say MCYS is 'ok' to let the boy in and there is nothing they can do?? what is this?%$%Q^$#
And the parents still send him to school....inconsiderate... $%$@#$#^
why shouldn't a sibling of a HFMD child attend school? Is there evidence that they are infective? -
insider:
Appreciate your input.
There may not be any hard evidence but in my experience, sibling has a higher chance of being infected if the other one is having HFMD. Think average about 60% of siblings are infected.3Boys:
Errr.....
why shouldn't a sibling of a HFMD child attend school? Is there evidence that they are infective?
It all boil down to the home hygiene of a family. If parents are careful not to let the siblings mix and play together, then chances of infection is lower. But as we cannot tell which family has better hygiene practice and which one doesn't, so to play it safe and be considerate, parents should keep sibling at home.
PS: When my two older kids were younger and in same centre (more than 10 years ago). Brother also infected sister when having HFMD. Just so difficult not to let them play together for that number of days.
On the other hand, some parents may feel that one infected and one not infected, so better to send the non-infected one to centre to reduce the probable contact time of the children. But for the sake of the majority kids in a centre, parents may want to send the non-infected child to another caregiver (a lot of hassles I know) but then the caregiver, if with own kid, may worry about whether this 'non-infected' child may indeed be a carrier and may infect own kid. Several possibilities.
My final take is all siblings of same centre should stay at home for social responsibility purposes. It is very inconvenient for families when a centre closes for a stretch of 10 days and all must chip in to avoid this from happening as far as we can...
Certainly, the risk of a sibling contracting an infection is high, that is a given. However, until he is demonstrating signs of infection, is he actually infective to other children? I think that is the key question.
Further, one needs to calibrate the measures according to the impact and severity of illness. Certainly, say it was SARS, then pull out all stops and institute draconian HQOs for all contacts. For HFMD, impact is a lot lower, so one needs to balance risk of transmission vs impact on families, which is how I think the MOH/MCYS is viewing this. I am of the view that this is a reasonable approach and parents who take advantage of it are not in remiss.
Of course, personal hygiene at home is paramount. -
I agree with insider. My gal childcare allows siblings of HFMD to attend school. The child later also show symptoms and spread to their classmate.
As parents, we should be more social responsible so as not to cause inconvenience to other parents. -
Ya, this is what happened and my gal got it! School should be more responsible and act more cautious towards HFMD.
Cleaning should be done more often and not wait till HFMD strike then start cleaning up.happydaddy:
This MCYS har... why they can't issue a statement, kid who has HFMD, their sibling cannot go school too????
My son class, got one boy's sis in another CC, got HFMD. But this boy is perfectly ok, but to play safe, we write in our concern to the centre, the centre say MCYS is 'ok' to let the boy in and there is nothing they can do?? what is this?%$%Q^$#
And the parents still send him to school....inconsiderate... $%$@#$#^ -
Hygiene should be maintained at all times, pre-schools/childcare shouldn’t start doing extensive cleaning only when an illness like HFMD pops up.
Kids come from different backgrounds and gather at a school. So teachers should make sure kids wash their hands often, while cleaners maintain hygiene everyday before and after school hours. -
Latest updated (MOH website on the weekly report):
Wk 17 (25 Apr-1 May) - 631
Wk 18 (2-8 May) - 628
Wk 19 (9-15 May) - 668
Wk20 (16-22 May) - 667
Wk21 (23-29 May) - 681
Wk22 (30 May-5 Jun) - 628
Wk23 (6-12 Jun) - 715
Wk24 (13-19 Jun) - 639
Wk25 (20-26 Jun) - 721
Wk26 (27 Jun-3 Jul) - 799
Wk27 (4-10 Jul) - 751
Wk28 (11-17 Jul) - 754
Wk29 (18-24 Jul) - 819
Wk30 (25-31 Jul) - 880
Wk31 (1-7 Aug) - 906
Wk32 (8-14 Aug) - 982
Wk33 (15-21 Aug) - 1261
Wk34 (22-28 Aug) - 1195
http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/statisticsweeklybulletins.aspx -
sunnydaz:
Not just schools but parents too. In the case cited by Happydaddy, the centre can only advise the parent to keep the sibling of an infected child at home but do not have any compelling reason to refuse entry to the child since the child is not exhibiting any symptoms at all. I have seen cases where the parents do not alert the centre that 1 sibling is down with HFMD and continues sending the other child to the school. When asked about the reason for the child being absent, their reply is fever and flu. Only when the 2nd child shows signs of HFMD do they fess up that the other child also has HF that is why he was absent.Ya, this is what happened and my gal got it! School should be more responsible and act more cautious towards HFMD.
Cleaning should be done more often and not wait till HFMD strike then start cleaning up.happydaddy:
This MCYS har... why they can't issue a statement, kid who has HFMD, their sibling cannot go school too????
My son class, got one boy's sis in another CC, got HFMD. But this boy is perfectly ok, but to play safe, we write in our concern to the centre, the centre say MCYS is 'ok' to let the boy in and there is nothing they can do?? what is this?%$%Q^$#
And the parents still send him to school....inconsiderate... $%$@#$#^
Parents should practise temperature and visual checks at home as well. Stay away from crowded areas during periods of red alert. Look around you, are the playgrounds in your estate empty or still crowded with children? While we keep saying that schools should practise good hygiene and make sure that kids wash their hands with soap everytime. Do we inculcate that at home. Bet you grandparents and maids and even some parents will stop the kids from using soap since there is a tendency for them to play with the soap.
So while we keep looking at schools and establishments where kids gather, we have to do our part in preventing the spread as well. Personally, I feel that MOH and MCYS has done too good a job in educating the public, so much so that most of us are kind of blase about the seriousness of HFMD. It was better when it was a bit of an unknown, parents were more wary then. -
Since SARS, I buy more anti-disinfectant sprays, use floor detergent with anti-bacteria and switched to bath foam instead of buying soap bars.
As parents, we should practice more moral responsibilty too.
Whenever we go out, esp to crowded areas, I quickly bathe the kids when we reach home. It’s Sep holidays now, so better be safe. My daughter had HFMD from her classmate last year and it was so pitiful seeing her lose appetite and cry the whole day because of the ulcers. -
To play safe, I never bring my child to playground since she already having fun everyday at school.
With the HFMD going on, I stop bringing them to shopping malls n out so often.
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