Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease Reported at Oak Lawn Day Care Center

Oak Lawn, IL, June 15, 2016 -- Officials at an Oak Lawn day care center are cleaning the facility after cases of hand, mouth and foot disease were reported.
About seven to eight children at Penny Lane School, 4527 Southwest Highway, Oak Lawn, became infected with the virus and are currently being cared for at home until they get better and obtain a doctor's note.
Penny Lane spokeswoman Melissa Lorentz said that parents of children in the affected classrooms were notified via letter last week of the cases. Notices were also posted on the door, including the number of reported cases.
“We’ve sent information home to parents,” Lorentz said. “This virus is very common in the spring. Extra sanitation has been going on throughout the building.”
Hand-mouth-and-foot disease is caused by a virus called enterovirus. It is spread through coughing, sneezing and saliva, or sharing of toys or food among young children. Sometimes the virus can be transmitted through an infected stool, such as changing an infant’s diaper, or when a young child comes in contact with an infected stool, according to WebMD.
Symptoms start with a fever followed by sores or blisters in or around the mouth, hands and feet. Sometimes sores can appear on the buttocks as well. The virus is very common in daycare or school settings. The illness takes six to seven days to incubate, and lasts about week after fever and blisters appear.
The disease is not to be confused with foot-and-mouth disease, also referred to as hoof-and-mouth or Mad Cow disease, which only affects animals.
Lorentz said that children in the school’s infant and toddler room started getting sick last week.
“We voluntarily contacted the Illinois Department of Public Health when children started getting sick,” Lorentz said. “We were told they do not start documenting until ten cases are reported.”
IDPH could not immediately be reached for comment.
About 200 children, ages 6 weeks to 12 years, are enrolled at Penny’s Lane’s Oak Lawn child care center. The school, which operates locations in Chicago Ridge and a ten-month program for staff and teachers in Dist. 218, offers educational and childcare programs for children.
“We’ve only had seven or eight cases of hand-mouth-and-foot disease reported out of 200 children,” Lorentz said.
Children with fevers or showing symptoms of other diseases or illnesses are sent home and/or must stay home, according to the school’s policy. Children are only re-admitted back into the school with a doctor’s note.
“We have a consulting nurse who comes in once a month to check on vaccinations or examine children in the classrooms when lice or other illnesses are reported,” Lorentz said. 

Children in the school are contained in one classroom are not moved around the school, Lorentz added.

Lorentz said that staff are scouring the Oak Lawn facility with soap, water and bleach. Including toys that children play with, desks, tables, chairs, carpets and floors. All three locations also employ a professional cleaning service that comes in daily after school hours. The Oak Lawn location has remained open. 

Penny Lane has been serving the area since 1988. The school is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.