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Hand-foot-and-mouth disease primarily affects children younger than age 10. Children in child care centers are especially susceptible to outbreaks of hand-foot-and-mouth disease because the infection spreads by person-to-person contact, and young children are the most susceptible.
Children usually develop immunity to hand-foot-and-mouth disease as they get older by building antibodies after exposure to the virus that causes the disease. However, it's possible for adolescents and adults to get the disease.
- Hand, foot, & mouth disease (HFMD). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/hfhf.htm. Accessed June 22, 2009.
- Enteroviruses - non polio. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs174/en/print.html. Accessed June 22, 2009.
- Hand, foot and mouth disease. American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/hand_foot_mouth_disease.html. Accessed June 22, 2009.
- Non-polio enterovirus infections. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/non-polio_entero.htm. Accessed June 26, 2009.