Athletic Activities Resume Across Kinnelon Schools

All sports activities across Kinnelon public schools resumed on Monday after the Superintendent was informed no new cases of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease had appeared over the last week.

Kinnelon school officials abruptly shut down all sports training and games across district schools after confirming two high school student athletes had contracted HFMD last week. District administration cancelled all football practice and any games scheduled this past weekend, as well as soccer games that were scheduled to take place last week against teams at Whippany High School.

The Kinnelon cases followed at the heels of confirmed cases in nearby communities, included Pequannock High School, where a total of eight high school students on the football team were reported to have the disease. Hand, foot, and mouth disease is most commonly caused by Coxsackievirus A16, and often affects infants younger than 5 years of age. Although adults don't often contract the virus, when they do, it can be spread rapidly, as has happened in other countries like some in Asia.

Image via KlatschmonAcker, Morguefile, used under Creative Commons.