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This is just in from a parent. Thank you for the heads-up and warning! I hope no one else gets it, it sounds miserable. This is the email she sent to me.

"I heard a parent mention the symptoms of the Coxsackie Virus and realized I might have it. I called my daughter’s pediatrician and she said that adults never get it, but I did. I had it for 10 days: sores on my tongue, diarrhea, and painful sores on my bum! I think {my daughter} must have been a non-symptomatic carrier and spread it to me. It’s going around {Fort Greene} as well as Park Slope and is highly contagious. I’ve talked to two other adults who have had it and two more who think they do. I feel like parents should be warned because they may be less careful thinking they are immune, but this particular strain seems to not discriminate. It can incubate for 3-5 days and then the illness can last for 7-10 days. One is contagious the entire length of the illness. It usually starts with a high fever, the fever may go away for a couple of days and then return with other symptoms including sore throat, bumps in mouth, rash on soles of feet, palms of hands and/or buttocks, even diarrhea.  One doesn’t necessarily get all of the symptoms. Please advise for parents to wash hands constantly! It’s spread from fecal matter, saliva, and nose mucous. If one does get it, there is no treatment. The doctor recommended lots of fluids and motrin for pain relief. She also said that frozen popsicles may provide relief to the throat.Be careful!! It’s not dangerous, but it is extremely uncomfortable."

Additional information is from www.kidshealth.org:

Signs and Symptoms

Coxsackievirus can produce a wide variety of symptoms. About half of
all kids infected with coxsackievirus have no symptoms. Others suddenly
develop high fever, headache, and muscle aches, and some also develop a
sore throat, abdominal discomfort, or nausea. A child with a
coxsackievirus infection may simply feel hot but have no other
symptoms. In most kids, the fever lasts about 3 days, then disappears.

Coxsackieviruses can also cause several different symptoms that affect different body parts, including:

• Hand, foot, and mouth disease, a type of
  coxsackievirus syndrome, causes painful red blisters in the throat and
  on the tongue, gums, hard palate, inside of the cheeks, and the palms
  of hands and soles of the feet.
• Herpangina, an infection of the throat which
  causes red-ringed blisters and ulcers on the tonsils and soft palate,
  the fleshy back portion of the roof of the mouth.
• Hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, an infection that
  affects the whites of the eyes. Hemorrhagic conjunctivitis usually
  begins as eye pain, followed quickly by red, watery eyes with swelling,
  light sensitivity, and blurred vision.

Occasionally, coxsackieviruses can cause more serious infections that may need to be treated in a hospital, including:

• viral meningitis, an infection of the meninges (the three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord)
• encephalitis, a brain infection
• myocarditis, an infection of the heart muscle

Newborns can be infected from their mothers during or shortly after
birth and are more at risk for developing serious infection, including
myocarditis, hepatitis, and meningoencephalitis (an inflammation of the
brain and meninges). In newborns, symptoms can develop within 2 weeks
after birth.

Contagiousness

Coxsackieviruses are very contagious. They can be passed from person
to person on unwashed hands and surfaces contaminated by feces. They
can also be spread through droplets of fluid sprayed into the air when
someone sneezes or coughs.

When an outbreak affects a community, risk for coxsackievirus
infection is highest among infants and children younger than 5. The
virus spreads easily in group settings like schools, child-care
centers, or summer camps. People who are infected with a coxsackievirus
are most contagious the first week they’re sick.

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