What Is HFMD?
8. Complications
In the vast majority of cases, the patient will make a full recovery. Hand foot and mouth disease will result in serious problems in a very small number of cases, however. One of them is dehydration, which tends to be caused by a lack of appetite and difficulty eating due to the pain the disease can cause.
In the more severe cases, the virus can result in a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis. Also, the membrane that protects the spinal cord and brain can become inflamed in a disease known as meningitis. Meningitis is also potentially fatal in the more severe cases.
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