10-day contagious illness sweeping across country as mum says 'our nursery is empty'

Children with hand, foot and mouth disease should be kept home (Image: Getty) Parents have warned of a highly contagious childhood disease that they say has been rapidly spreading across the UK, leaving many parents and childcare providers scrambling to manage the outbreak. According to the NHS, hand, foot and mouth disease is a common viral infection that typically affects young children, though it can also impact adults. The illness typically presents with a range of symptoms, including a sore throat, fever, and the development of painful mouth ulcers and a distinctive blistering rash on the body and particularly the hands and feet.

One distressed mother, Sarah, from South Wales has witnessed the impact of this illness first-hand. She reported that her local nursery has been hit particularly hard, with the facility nearly emptied of children as the outbreak swept through the community. "It's been really tough," she said.

"Our nursery is practically empty at the moment, with so many kids off sick with this hand, foot and mouth thing. It's spreading like wildfire." function loadOvpScript(){let el=document.

createElement('script');el.setAttribute('src','https://live.primis.

tech/live/liveView.php?s=114945&playerApiId=v114945');document.getElementById('ovp-primis').

appendChild(el)}window.top.addEventListener('primisPlayerInit',e=>{try{if(e.

detail&&e.detail.playerApiId==="v114945"){if(window.

document.getElementsByClassName('jwplayer')[0]){e.detail.

float('disable')}}}catch(e){}});w.