most helpful answer if you are an adult you will not likely get it. this is a childhood viral disease in kids under age five but close household contacts can get it. personally i have been exposed hundreds of times and never got it. i got lots of other "gifts" from my little patients however. this disease lasts about ten days and has a four to six day incubation period. the most contagious period is the first week. it is transmitted by direct contact so frequent hand-washing some careful isolation of the person with the disease for that first week and avoiding direct contact with the lesions would go a long way in making sure this virus is not transmitted to you or other contacts.
how do i stop getting hand foot and mouth disease?