Darius at home instead of being in school...

On Wednesday, Darius’ childcare centre attached a notice in his communication booklet, informing us that one of the girls from the centre had just been confirmed with the Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD). From what we understand, she had been absent from the centre since last Friday so it could be possible that she might have caught the disease elsewhere too. Still, coupled with the news that HFMD is getting widespread in Singapore recently, the cc is stepping up on its checks of their children for any symptom of the disease.

Yesterday morning, soon after I dropped Darius at his cc, we received a call from them, informing us that they had discovered two newly appeared red spots on Darius’ left sole. They were suspecting that it might be a sign of HFMD. However, believeing that those spots were actually mosquito bites since last week (as I had already remembered the locations of all the bites from my applying of cream on each of these bites regularly), we assured the teachers that these spots weren’t new and were thus unlikely to be related to HFMD. Furthermore, Darius had been behaving normally and actively all these while. Even so, they didn’t sound convinced and would still want us to bring him back home immediately. In the end, we compromised by agreeing that we would fetch him back if genuinely new spots were discovered on him or if he had developed other symptoms, such as fever or loss of appetite.

Just half an hour later, the centre called me again, informing me that there was one ‘new’ spot on the left side of his abdomen (this one was actually an old mosquito bite). Since they were already very suspicious of Darius and we were worried too, we agreed to go pick him up. Meanwhile, Darius was being quarantined from the other children in the admin’s office.

Two new spots and two hardly visible old spots on his sole

Catherine then promptly rushed down to fetch him from the childcare centre and noted that there were in fact two new spots on his sole (on top of the two old, hardly visible mosquito bites) which seemed like ‘big reddish raised bumps’ before bringing him to a GP for confirmation of his spots, as strongly recommended by the teachers. We knew that if we were to convince the centre that he was clear of HFMD, we needed a doctor’s proof. After a long wait at the clinic, Catherine and Darius finally got to see the doctor. He then diagnosed those spots as insect bites and mentioned that they were very unlikely to be caused by HFMD, since spots caused by the disease wouldn’t become as big as those spots spotted on Darius. He then wrote us a note to certify that he was fit for school for that day.

According to the GP, HFMD usually starts with a mild fever, followed by ulcers in the mouth or throat, and only after that, small spotty rashes on the hands or mouth.

Reaching home and while Darius was taking his nap (both of them were very tired after all the traveling and waiting), Catherine updated the admin on the doctor’s findings by phone. Despite the diagnosis by the doctor, she still did not sound convinced. -_-| Cat: Vigilance is good, but over-paranoid?

Later on, I headed to a neighbouring shopping mall after work in search for an electronic mosquito repellent, which was mentioned recently by my mother-in-law. To spare Darius the misery of itchy bites and also being suspected of HFMD again due to new bites, we decided to work on methods to get rid of mosquitoes in our home. We had previously used mosquitoes coils to repel the pests but the smell generated didn’t go well with our noses (and our neighbours’). Insecticides wouldn’t be a viable option too since we wouldn’t want Darius to take in any of the chemical substance, even if we sprayed it hours before he was to go inside the room.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before I located the electronic mosquito repellents, as they were prominently displayed on a shelf near the store’s entrance, labelled ‘Best Buys’. I’m quite sure we are not the only family bothered by mosquitoes lately then, no thanks to the regular rains that have been pouring down.

This device uses advanced ultrasonic sound wave technology

Reaching home, I quickly plugged the repeller into a socket in our bedroom, which happened to be near the windows. That happans to be a very suitable place for the device since that was near the likely opening that the mosquitoes have flew in from. By the way, the device works by emitting a constant-changing ultrasonic signal that drives pests crazy and forces them to leave the place. The signal is however inaudible to humans and their pets so it is harmless to us. The device also has an effective area of 2000 square feet, uses only 1 Watt of electricity and doubles up as a night light with its soft glow.

So far, we had not gotten any new bites during our sleep so hopefully this device is working as it is intended to.

Anyway, we decided not to send Darius to cc this morning, worried that he might get sent back again if the teachers were to discover any ‘new’ spots on his body again (unless maybe if we marked down and highlighted all his bites to the teachers before sending him in, but that would be too much work). We understand that the centre has to be vigilant to prevent any outbreak of the disease and ended up getting itself closed down, so we didn’t want to make things difficult for them either. Therefore, we will only send him back again from next week onwards.

If you are interested in HFMD, you can find out more here, an article from the Health Promotion Board : http://www.hpb.gov.sg/health_articles/hfmd

Blogs that I read which helped me to understand and look out for symptoms of HFMD are: Offsprings’s Blogpost, Chen Xi & Mama. (not sure why PD prescribed antibiotics though when it’s not supposed to be effective) and Angeline’s BlogPost 1 and I can totally empathized with her for this blogpost, “He was rejected“.

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