SINGAPORE : While most people are familiar with children getting Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), not many are aware that adults can also get afflicted.

Deputy magazine editor Pamela Ho's twin boys came down with HFMD, one after the other.

And when they recovered, Ho sighed with relief, until she found out that she had also contracted it.

"I was at work and washing my hands, and I felt like there was a paper cut on my thumb. A few hours later, I was washing my hands again and I felt there were these paper cuts all over my hand. I checked and there were like 3-4 spots on my hand. Then I thought it looked familiar ... I didn't really think anything about it until at night or evening when it got worse," recalled Ho, a recovered HFMD patient.

The next day Ho went to the doctor and he confirmed it.

Ho had HFMD, and according to her doctor, this was something that he rarely came across.

But an infectious diseases specialist said adult HFMD may not really be that unusual.

"It's probably very common. It's just that we don't have the figures or statistics at all. The fact is that most of us who actually have HFMD, they have what we call silent or sub-clinical infection. (That means) you could have had the infection but you don't show any signs at all, so it can be quite common. Your immune system had a mounted a good response and you kept it under control so you don't show or manifest any of the signs," said Dr Thoon Koh Cheng, Associate Consultant, KK Women's & Children's Hospital.

Nonetheless, like children, adult sufferers are also infectious.

The main difference then between child and adult sufferers is that adults have usually developed the antibodies to fight the illness.

Even if they do get it, their symptoms are less severe.

In cases where the symptoms are more severe, Dr Thoon said it's likely to be the once-a-year situation that the average general practitioner encounters - as in Ho's case.

So what caused Pamela to get the more full-blown version?

It's likely, said Dr Thoon, that she may well have been exposed to higher virus loads from her two boys. Ho said that she did not stop hugging and kissing throughout the time that they had the illness. - CNA /ls