By MONICA PORTE
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PORT Macquarie is in the midst of a hand, foot and mouth outbreak, say local medical practitioners and child carers.
Since the disease is not reportable, the North Coast Area Health Service does not have statistics on the outbreak, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is carving a swathe through the town's one- to four-year olds.
Several day-care centres told the Port Macquarie News they had seen numerous cases. One centre said 15 children in its care had contracted the disease recently.
Local paediatrician Dr David McDonald said day-care centres often were first to notice outbreaks due to the highly contagious nature of the disease and the close contact between children in care.
And, while some centres ask parents to keep their children at home until the blisters have cleared and the risk of transmission has passed, Dr McDonald said there was no real need to isolate children with the virus.
"This is the sort of thing where day-care centres may like to isolate children with the disease to avoid it spreading. But in terms of public health, its not a serious disease and an intensive public health scheme is not necessary," Dr McDonald said.
"I think the main thing with hand, foot and mouth disease is that it has a frightening name, but it is not a frightening disease."
St Joseph's Family Services director Marina Hynes said their centres operated in accordance with the Commonwealth Staying Healthy in Childcare Guidelines, which recommended children be kept at home to avoid spreading the infection.
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