A New Jersey bargain hunter claims she contracted a contagious virus from sifting through thrift store clothing bins.
Sarah Smithers broke out in bumps and blisters on her hands days after digging for hours through a Goodwill’s bargain bin with bare hands.
She was diagnosed with coxsackievirus, commonly known as hand, foot, and mouth disease, which spreads through airborne droplets when someone coughs or sneezes.
Doctors and nurses said while it sounds farfetched, these droplets can stay on clothing for hours and be transmitted to others who then touch their mouths or an open sore.
Experts are cautioned against digging through bins filled with unwashed strangers’ clothes without washing their hands thoroughly at the end.
Dr Myro Figura responded to the case on his Tik Tok, @doctormyro. TikTok user Sarah Smithers caught the coxsackievirus, commonly referred to as hand, foot, and mouth disease, after spending hours sifting through bargain bins at a New Jersey Goodwill with her bare hands.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease causes a rash and painful sores on the hands, feet, and inside the mouth. Sores can also appear on the buttocks, and while the rash is not itchy, it can be very painful
Sarah ventured to her local Goodwill store to wade through the bargain bins, having been told by many people that she could get ‘so much good stuff for cheap.’
‘What they don’t tell you is you could get hand, foot, and mouth disease like I did.’
Her cautionary tale sparked feedback from doctors to wear gloves and wash their hands thoroughly after digging.
Contact with an infected person’s saliva or stool and then touching one’s own face, mouth, eyes, or nose can cause HFMD.
Between 10 and 15 million cases of enteroviruses, which include coxsackievirus, are confirmed in the US every year. Most of them are in children.
When a sick person’s saliva, mucus, or fluid from blisters comes in contact with the clothes, the pathogens can linger for hours, according to California-based podiatrist Dr Dana Brems, who responded to Ms Smithers’ video.
Dr Luke Maxfield, a dermatologist based in Tennessee, said in response to Ms Smithers’ account: ‘Oof, bad deal. Someone’s dirty hands touch an object, you touch the object, you touch your face, then hand, foot, mouth.
‘There’s really no treatment, so just wash those hands.’
Dr Myro Figure, an anesthesiologist at the University of California Los Angeles, added: ‘The coxsackie virus is incredibly contagious.’
The virus can also cause flu-like symptoms, such as sore throat, diarrhea, dehydration, and loss of appetite.
Because it cannot be treated with antibiotics, patients must ride it out until it resolves on its own, typically seven to ten days.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is most common in children under seven. The virus doesn’t have a cure and typically runs its course in about a week
Dr Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician in Florida, said: ‘It should actually be called hand, foot, mouth, and booty disease… it causes rash and potentially blistering lesions on the hands, the feet, around the mouth, and the back of the throat, and on the booty.’
The condition is most commonly seen in infants and young children.
Dr Martin added: ‘The most important thing is honestly pain control to encourage patients to be drinking and staying hydrated.’
Patients with HFMD should take over the counter pain relievers, which will also bring down their fever, such as ibuprofen or Tylenol.
Goodwill recommends on its site that shoppers wear gloves ‘good enough to protect from cuts and scrapes.’
The outlet adds: ‘Especially in this day and age, you can never be too safe. These types of stores throw items into the bins; broken, assembled, sharp or dull.’
HFMD is rarely associated with severe complications, including pneumonia and inflammation in the pancreas. Very rarely, the infection can reach the brain and cause inflammation of the protective layer surrounding the brain, called meningitis.
Almost 13 percent of cases are asymptomatic, 86 percent are mild, one percent progress to severe or critical stages, and 0.03 percent result in death.
