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Sacramento, Calif. (KCRA) — Sacramento area pediatricians are seeing an uptick in viruses among preschool- and elementary school-aged children.
“It’s almost like clockwork,” said Dr. Ken Hempstead, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente. “The kids go back to school and you can almost time how each school, about a week later, all the kids come trickling in to see the doctor.”
Doctors are mostly seeing cases of enteroviruses, like hand, foot, mouth disease; parainfluenza viruses, like croup; and adenoviruses, like pink eye.
This is peak season for enteroviruses according to Dr. Dean Blumberg, the Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.
“Some strains cause hand, foot, mouth disease — and they cause a whole host of illnesses, ranging from fever to gastroenteritis, to runny nose,” Blumberg said. “In some patients, they can be quite severe, causing meningitis.”
Hand, foot, mouth disease usually shows up as a rash on the palms of hands and the soles of feet. Parents may have seen notices posted at their children’s daycares or elementary schools warning them about the disease. Doctors said those notices should be taken seriously.
“If children can’t participate in normal activities, don’t send them to daycare, don’t send them to school,” Blumberg said. “They’re not going to benefit from that environment. And the people at school and daycare aren’t going to appreciate them being there.”
The best defense is handwashing, according to Hempstead.
“If you can, your teachers will appreciate you donating some Purell to the classroom or bleach wipes, that kind of a thing,” Hempstead added. “Get that into the classroom because that makes a huge difference.”
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