Facing TB in Houston
Doctor Warns Against Shopping At Goodwill Bins After Woman Catches 'incredibly' Contagious Disease
A New Jersey bargain hunter claims she contracted a contagious virus from sifting through thrift store clothing bins.
Sarah Smithers broke out in bumps and blisters on her hands days after digging for hours through a Goodwill's bargain bin with bare hands.
She was diagnosed with coxsackievirus, commonly known as hand, foot, and mouth disease, which spreads through airborne droplets when someone coughs or sneezes.
Doctors and nurses said while it sounds farfetched, these droplets can stay on clothing for hours and be transmitted to others who then touch their mouths or an open sore.
Experts are cautioned against digging through bins filled with unwashed strangers' clothes without washing their hands thoroughly at the end.
Dr Myro Figura responded to the case on his Tik Tok, @doctormyro. TikTok user Sarah Smithers caught the coxsackievirus, commonly referred to as hand, foot, and mouth disease, after spending hours sifting through bargain bins at a New Jersey Goodwill with her bare hands.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease causes a rash and painful sores on the hands, feet, and inside the mouth. Sores can also appear on the buttocks, and while the rash is not itchy, it can be very painful
Sarah ventured to her local Goodwill store to wade through the bargain bins, having been told by many people that she could get 'so much good stuff for cheap.'
'What they don't tell you is you could get hand, foot, and mouth disease like I did.'
Her cautionary tale sparked feedback from doctors to wear gloves and wash their hands thoroughly after digging.
Contact with an infected person's saliva or stool and then touching one's own face, mouth, eyes, or nose can cause HFMD.
Between 10 and 15 million cases of enteroviruses, which include coxsackievirus, are confirmed in the US every year. Most of them are in children.
When a sick person's saliva, mucus, or fluid from blisters comes in contact with the clothes, the pathogens can linger for hours, according to California-based podiatrist Dr Dana Brems, who responded to Ms Smithers' video.
Dr Luke Maxfield, a dermatologist based in Tennessee, said in response to Ms Smithers' account: 'Oof, bad deal. Someone's dirty hands touch an object, you touch the object, you touch your face, then hand, foot, mouth.
'There's really no treatment, so just wash those hands.'
Dr Myro Figure, an anesthesiologist at the University of California Los Angeles, added: 'The coxsackie virus is incredibly contagious.'
The virus can also cause flu-like symptoms, such as sore throat, diarrhea, dehydration, and loss of appetite.
Because it cannot be treated with antibiotics, patients must ride it out until it resolves on its own, typically seven to ten days.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is most common in children under seven. The virus doesn't have a cure and typically runs its course in about a week
Dr Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician in Florida, said: 'It should actually be called hand, foot, mouth, and booty disease… it causes rash and potentially blistering lesions on the hands, the feet, around the mouth, and the back of the throat, and on the booty.'
The condition is most commonly seen in infants and young children.
Dr Martin added: 'The most important thing is honestly pain control to encourage patients to be drinking and staying hydrated.'
Patients with HFMD should take over the counter pain relievers, which will also bring down their fever, such as ibuprofen or Tylenol.
Goodwill recommends on its site that shoppers wear gloves 'good enough to protect from cuts and scrapes.'
The outlet adds: 'Especially in this day and age, you can never be too safe. These types of stores throw items into the bins; broken, assembled, sharp or dull.'
HFMD is rarely associated with severe complications, including pneumonia and inflammation in the pancreas. Very rarely, the infection can reach the brain and cause inflammation of the protective layer surrounding the brain, called meningitis.
Almost 13 percent of cases are asymptomatic, 86 percent are mild, one percent progress to severe or critical stages, and 0.03 percent result in death.
Mumbai: Hand, Foot, And Mouth Disease On Rise In City
Doctors say the paediatric disease has now been affecting elderly immunocompromised people, too, in recent weeks
The HFMD boils on the leg of a very young child
Listen to this articleMumbai: Hand, foot, and mouth disease on rise in city
xPaediatricians in the city are witnessing an increase in cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), a viral infection that causes rash/blisters on the hands and feet, sore throat among other symptoms that turn into painful ulcers. The disease has been infecting children and elderly immunocompromised people, for the last few weeks.
On average in the last few days, I have been examining three to four cases in paediatric age groups with Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) and an equal number of concerned parents consult me by sending photographs of their children. There is no treatment line for HFMD; the incubation period is around three to six days," said Dr Fazal Nabi, director of paediatrics at Jaslok hospital.
The virus also caused severe dehydration; (right) The infection usually disappears in a week Nabi added, "Many parents confuse HFMD for chicken pox, due to the typical rash and fever. In the case of chickenpox, the patient usually gets blisters which spread from the centre of the body i.E. The chest, back etc, whereas in the case of HFMD, the peripheral part of the body i.E. Fingers, palms, knee, buttocks, hands and joints gets boils, and in case of monkeypox, the definitional symptoms are diarrhoea and tummy discomfort." When asked about the admission of infants examined, Dr Nabi said "It is due to blisters on the tongue and throat that the infected child is not able to ingest food hence they become weak and at times dehydration sets in. Hospital observation is required only if the child remains sick, even after the regular timeframe of three to six days." Changed trend Dr B Srikanth, a consulting paediatrician from Navi Mumbai said, "Earlier, these cases were restricted to children below six years of age, but nowadays even kids between 6 and 12 years are getting affected. Another difference is that the blisters, unlike earlier, are bigger and quite painful." Dr Srikanth added, "Usually the problem disappears during short school vacations and reappear when schools reopen, as an infected child can spread it to others. I would advise parents not to send their infected children to school at least for a week once the child is diagnosed with HFMD." 'My daughter lost two kg' A couple from Mumbai Central was helpless when they would hear their eleven-month-old daughter Hareem cry inconsolably, every time they tried to feed her, in the last ten days. She even started drooling. The young parents rushed her to local paediatricians when they spotted blisters on her hands, feet and mouth."We had never heard of HFMD or witnessed such painful blisters. Also, the blisters come with high-grade fever, and other than giving 1.5 ml of Crocin, we could not do anything. My daughter weighed 11 kg and she has already lost two, in the last few days," said Sameer, a businessman. Expert view "A PCR test from mouth ulcers or stool confirms it, and the illness usually resolves within a week without treatment, though ice or anaesthetic syrup can ease discomfort. HFMD is unrelated to foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. The virus spreads through contact, and regular hand sanitisation helps prevent transmission," said Dr Subhash Hira, professor of global health at the University of Washington. Other side Dr Babita Kamlapurkar, joint director, health services, said, "I won't have any offhand information on HFMD. I will have to collect information from across districts, and then let you know" 36No. Of days it takes for symptoms to show 6-12The age group of kids that are now getting infectedVitamins By Condition
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