When Ann Friedrick, mother of two from Scholls, Ore., first saw the sores in her infant son's mouth she thought it was some kind of yeast infection. Turns out she was wrong.

"He was between 10 and 12 months old and had developed a rash and had some sores in his mouth," Friedrick says. "He was fussy and ran a low-grade fever. When we got him to the doctor he told us it was hand, foot and mouth [disease] and that he had to have contracted it from another child in the daycare. Turns out it's very contagious, and children at that age put everything in their mouth."

According to Dr. Loraine Stern, head of Valencia Pediatrics in Santa Clarita, Calif., hand, foot and mouth disease is a viral infection that mainly affects preschool-aged children in group care and nursery schools. It causes small blisters on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and inside the mouth. There's only a low-grade fever associated with it, and the primary distress it causes is if the mouth sores are extensive. In that case children may be reluctant to drink and may become dehydrated.

"People have called it hoof and mouth disease but that is an infection in cattle!" Dr. Stern says. "It is probably transmitted both in the air and by direct contact, child to child or child to toy to child."

Though uncomfortable, hand, foot and mouth is a mild systemic viral illness caused by the coxsackie virus A-16. The illness is fairly common, occurring most often in late summer and early fall.

The first manifestations are usually small, flat cysts noted on the palms and soles, with small ulcers in the mouth, usually on the insides of lips, cheeks and tongue. The ulcers look very much like small canker sores and are not usually seen in the back of the throat. Occasionally, small blisters are seen on the buttocks.

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