Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna mother is up in arms after her daughter contracted hand, foot and mouth disease at school. 

Molly Gerrard's daughter came home from Belgo Elementary last Friday, complaining of a stomach ache.

Gerrard assumed it would pass, but the next day the kindergartener woke up with red spots all over her body. 

"I thought it was chicken pox, but the dots turned into red blisters, which is foot and mouth disease. She now has a very bad case of it."

Gerrard says parents were not adequately informed that three classes had cases of the disease.

"There is an app called Dojo that her classroom teacher chose as a way to keep parents informed of assemblies and presentations and things. That is not an appropriate way to inform us parents of a super-contagious virus in the classroom. I would expect a phone call or at the very least an email," Gerrard said. 

Her daughter has sores over 40 per cent of her body. 

Interior Health says: "Hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by certain types of viruses. It is most common in children under 10 years of age, but older children and adults may also get the disease."

Symptoms start three to five days after contact with an infected person. The first sign of infection may be a mild fever, sometimes with a runny nose or sore throat, tiredness and loss of appetite. 

Once a person is infected and sick, they can be contagious and spread the virus for about seven to 10 days. The virus can be spread through close personal contact such as kissing, or sharing drinking cups, forks, or spoons. It can also spread through droplets in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. 

Gerrard also contracted the disease – and lost her job because of it. 

"I clean public washrooms for commercial buildings, therefore I cannot be in a building because I am now a risk to the community," she said Thursday.

Gerrard said if she knew the school had an outbreak, she would have kept her daughter home. 

"Her daycare had it when she was really little and I kept her home for two weeks," she said.

School Supt. Kevin Kaardal says Belgo followed protocol to a tee. 

"The incubation period is three to six days, so we were not even aware that there were students who may have contracted the virus," he said. "We follow the recommendations of B.C. Centre for Disease Control when we are notifying parents or not, about any kind of disease that is in the schools. 

"There is no point in withholding your child from school if they feel well. If they are feeling ill, that is something else. When we do become aware of hand foot and mouth disease, the student usually is kept home because they are infected," Kaardal added.

"We up our cleaning of toys and all areas where students interact and the second thing is we are always encouraging students to wash their hands.

"This isn't a disease that is life-threatening in any way, and it's not a disease the parents can do anything about other than having their child continue good hygiene. A student can have the disease and have absolutely no idea."