Early action curbs hand-foot-and-mouth disease outbreak at Florida State University
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Sixteen cases of hand-foot-and-mouth disease have been reported to Florida State University Health Services since Sept. 9, and more unreported cases are suspected within the student body and surrounding community, according to department staff.
Lesley K. Sacher, MHA, FACHE, FACHA, executive director of the school’s University Health Services (UHS), said the outbreak — which started with a single case on Sept. 9 and peaked earlier this week — appears to be nearing its conclusion, thanks to the swift collaboration of university staff, the Florida Department of Health and the student body.
“I anticipate a little spike on Monday — only because of the 3- to 5-day incubation period and we’re going into the weekend — then I think it’s going to dissipate over this next week,” Sacher told Infectious Disease News. “Even though we took the chance and alerted people when we had so few cases, the fact that it was unusual, and we got ahead of it, and we managed it through sanitation and education — that’s something I think is really, really important.”
Lesley K. Sacher
Sacher said this outbreak was unexpected because hand-foot-and-mouth disease typically affects younger children. However, she also said that recent cases of the viral illness can be easily explained when taken in context.
“You have to understand the context in which this occurred,” Sacher said. “The week before we had been hit by a hurricane, and most students were without electricity, lights, air conditioning and laundry access. Those moist, hot conditions where laundry wasn’t done, surfaces weren’t cleaned and there was no access to hot water were probably the perfect breeding grounds for a lot of germs.”
After more cases presented to UHS on Monday, Sacher and colleagues decided to activate an emergency management team “not because we thought necessarily that it was an emergence, but because we have a very large campus, and we wanted to get ahead of it from a sanitation point of view,” she said. Along with contacting the state health department and campus staff, UHS met with student leaders to promote cleaning and delay fraternity rush events that were scheduled to begin that day. UHS also distributed sanitation materials, advised students to stay home if ill and activated a telemedicine consultation hotline for those unsure about their condition.
“We’ve been able to get in front of [this outbreak] with prevention, and that’s the main thing that our students have all really rallied around,” Christopher DeLisle, DO, co-medical director of UHS, told Infectious Disease News. “Seeing students now, they come to me saying, ‘I’ve heard about it, and I’ve been taking precautions washing my hands.’ That’s a really good message to get out to everyone, not only for hand-foot-and-mouth [disease].”
Christopher DeLisle
The prompt response was partially motivated by an interest in ending the outbreak before the beginning of influenza season, which Sacher said would have further threatened the health of the students. In retrospect, she said she was happy with her department’s decision to raise an early alarm, despite the risk of panic.
“There’s always that balance between not wanting to scare people, but educate them,” Sacher said. “I’d rather people know and decide not to do something than not know and be exposed inadvertently. It’s that delicate balance of sharing information in the age of social media that, with infectious diseases, is becoming an opportunity and a challenge.” – by Dave Muoio
Disclosure: DeLisle and Sacher report no relevant financial disclosures.