Increasingly common among Polish children, Boston disease is caused by ethnoviruses transmitted by saliva and touch. It affects children up to 10 years of age and in some cases also older children and even adults. It is easy to confuse it with chickenpox or the common cold.
How to recognize this mysterious disease?
- High fever, reaching up to 39 degrees, which passes within three days.
- It is accompanied by a sore throat caused by the formation of painful blisters within it. Therefore, it is worth monitoring the condition of the child’s throat and mouth. In the case of Boston disease, we will see blisters also visible in the mouth. With an ordinary cold or pharyngitis, we can observe reddening of the throat, enlarged tonsils and other typical symptoms.
- The main symptom that distinguishes Boston Sickness from the common cold is pimples appearing on the feet, hands and around the mouth and in some cases also around the genitals.
Boston disease it is sometimes confused with chickenpox because of the red spots on the patient’s body. How to distinguish these two ailments? First of all, in the case of “Bostons” we are dealing with blemishes, not bursting blisters. In the initial phase, however, skin lesions look very similar. That’s why it’s worth checking where they appear. Changes on the abdomen, face or legs indicate that we are dealing with smallpox and not Boston disease, also known as “foot, hand and mouth disease”.
Children with Boston disease often refuse to drink. To avoid dehydration, it is worth giving them water and herbal teas. By the way, it allows you to check whether we are dealing with “Boston” or pharyngitis. People suffering from sore throats like to drink warm drinks. Painful blisters form in the throat area with Boston, which is why a small patient may feel pain and refuse to drink tea or water with lemon. In this case, it is worth giving cold water.
Boston disease it rarely occurs in winter and the main cases occur from April to October, which also makes it easier to recognize the symptoms.
Since “Boston’s disease” is an infectious disease, the source of the disease will probably be kindergarten, school or playground. In this case, at the first symptoms, it is worth consulting other parents. This will probably make it easier to determine whether your child has contracted Boston Sickness or the common flu.
It happens that up to a month after the illness, it returns. This is a characteristic symptom, another one that distinguishes it from other diseases.