Difference Between Chickenpox and Hand Foot and Mouth

The main difference between chickenpox and hand, foot and mouth disease is where you get blisters. With hand, foot and mouth disease, you tend to get blisters on your hands and feet, and blisters or ulcers in your mouth. With chickenpox, you'll usually get spots all over your body, face, scalp, arms and legs.

Can Hand Foot Mouth be mistaken for chickenpox?

The varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes chickenpox, while the Coxsackievirus typically causes HFMD. Symptoms and signs of chickenpox and hand, foot, and mouth disease that are similar include rashes that often form blisters, feeling unwell (malaise), and fever.

What can be mistaken for chicken pox?

Vesiculopapular diseases that mimic chickenpox include disseminated herpes simplex virus infection, and enterovirus disease. Dermatomal vesicular disease can be caused by herpes simplex virus and can be recurrent.

Does chicken pox appear on palms?

Rash Distribution

Chickenpox can spread to parts of the body that are not usually affected by infections, including the palms, soles, scalp, eyelids, anus, and genitals. Zovirax is most effective if started within 24 hours of the first appearance of rash.

Does hand foot and mouth look like?

Your child may get a skin rash on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It may also show up on the knees, elbows, buttocks, or genital area. The rash usually looks like flat, red spots, sometimes with blisters.

Is hand foot and mouth disease caused by poor hygiene?

Causes and symptoms

Hand-foot-mouth disease is spread when poor hand washing after a diaper change or contact with saliva allows the virus to be passed from one child to another. Blisters shown on the foot a child with hand-foot-mouth disease.

What happens if hand foot and mouth disease goes untreated?

Complications are rare but can develop if HFMD is left untreated in certain individuals. If the underlying cause is a virus known as enterovirus 71, it can affect the nervous system. This can lead to: Meningitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord.

Where does chicken pox usually start?

The rash may first show up on the chest, back, and face, and then spread over the entire body, including inside the mouth, eyelids, or genital area. It usually takes about one week for all of the blisters to become scabs. Other typical symptoms that may begin to appear 1-2 days before rash include: fever.

What do chickenpox look like at first?

At first, the rash looks like pinkish dots that quickly develop a small blister on top (a blister is a bump on your skin that fills up with fluid). After about 24 to 48 hours, the fluid in the blisters gets cloudy and the blisters begin to crust over. Chickenpox blisters show up in waves.

What do chickenpox look like at the beginning?

The rash begins as many small red bumps that look like pimples or insect bites. They appear in waves over 2 to 4 days, then develop into thin-walled blisters filled with fluid. The blister walls break, leaving open sores, which finally crust over to become dry, brown scabs.

Does chickenpox affect palms and soles?

The rash can also develop on the palms and soles, which is an extremely rare presentation of varicella1-4. The distinctive features of varicella lesions are that they are a polymorphous eruption from rose-colored macules to papules, vesicles, pustules and crusts that rapidly progress1.

What are signs of chickenpox in adults?

Chickenpox symptoms in adults

• Flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, body aches, and headache. These symptoms typically start a day or two before a rash appears.
• Red spots appear on the face and chest, eventually spreading over the entire body. ...
• Blisters weep, become sores, form crusts, and heal.

How long is incubation period for chickenpox?

The average incubation period for varicella is 14 to 16 days after exposure to a varicella or a herpes zoster rash, with a range of 10 to 21 days. A mild prodrome of fever and malaise may occur 1 to 2 days before rash onset, particularly in adults. In children, the rash is often the first sign of disease.

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