Rumors of hand, foot and mouth disease took students by storm. Graphic by Anna Gritzenbach.

LAUREN FISCHER | STAFF REPORTER | lrfischer@butler.edu

Just two weeks ago, in the few days leading up to fall break, a campus-wide hysteria broke out over the spread of an unexpected virus. Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) gets its name from the blisters that may form on the hands, feet and mouth after contracting the virus. The remaining symptoms are comparable to those of a cold, with a possible fever in the first few days and a sore throat. 

While anyone could agree that having hand, foot and mouth is not a desirable experience, throughout the shortened week ahead of fall break, it was one of the few things the campus was talking about. This could be traced to the Canvas outage that occurred on Monday, Oct. 20, which left students with extra time on their hands and only one topic of gossip to discuss. Nevertheless, people were being called out for spreading a virus that they didn’t even spread. 

Campus fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha (Lambda) was specifically impacted by the panic after news got out that multiple members of the organization had contracted the virus at their fall formal. 

JJ Bartosch, a junior finance major and member of Lambda, explained that he personally got a lot of odd reactions after getting the virus. 

“People were treating me like I needed to be isolated,” Bartosch said. “They would make jokes about not coming too close to me, and people wanted me away from them.”

While he said that his case was more severe than others in the house, his symptoms were only shown through blisters, and he never felt sick or feverish. 

Although it is undoubtedly important to be wary of sicknesses that may be spreading, this specific virus and those attached to it got the short end of the stick. With the cold season persistently claiming its victims, Butler’s campus was already seeing germs and viruses spread. 

Maxie Gardner, the director of Butler Health Services, spoke about how HFMD was only one of many illnesses that health services have seen this fall, and it was not as severe as many assumed.

“There is no isolation required,” Gardner said. “However, if you have a fever with any illness, you should stay home for 24 hours until you are fever-free without Tylenol and ibuprofen.”

Gardner explained that as long as one does not have a fever and keeps their blisters covered, they are safe to be around others. 

With a virus like HFMD that doesn’t often impact adults, or if it does, they are likely asymptomatic, many don’t know the realities of this disease. Students were quick to assume that sharing a space with someone who has the virus would result in them immediately getting the virus, and that is far from the truth. 

With that, students can easily get in touch with Butler Health Services when they have any medical questions. This can curb the overreacting and pure panic revolving around a seasonal virus. 

Sophomore biology major Jillian Norris mentioned that most of the information she heard regarding HFMD was through YikYak, a social media platform that allows communities to share and view anonymous posts, which led to excessive worry surrounding the disease.

“I was scared to hang out with my friends, just because of the stuff being posted and all the rumors being spread about it,” Norris said. “It got blown out of proportion [and] was talked about everywhere.”

Many of the YikYak posts were directly attacking Lambda, along with flaming anyone who had the virus. Comments include:

“So what I’m hearing is that Lambda went to the zoo and then came home with the plague.”

“If you have hand, foot and mouth [right now,] don’t even bother going to class [I swear to God.]”

“New biggest fear: getting hand, foot and mouth at the HRC from using a machine after a Lambda.”

While many of these comments are in good fun, going with the nature of the anonymous platform, these reactions can lead to unnecessary worry that far exceeds caution. 

It is crucial to be aware of health concerns, but at the same time, directly attacking groups of people for a situation that they can’t control only leads to unnecessary worry. Actions such as staying mindful of what you say, practicing good hand hygiene and utilizing campus resources to educate yourself can help reduce health-related frenzies in the future.