Story highlights Hand, foot and mouth disease symptoms include fever and rash on hands and feet

Late summer and early fall are when enteroviruses seem to spread quickly

(CNN) Hand, foot and mouth disease is an illness commonly seen in children younger than 5. It spreads through contact and attacks exposed adults with fever, sores and skin rash.

Fan Day with the West Virginia University football team was postponed over the weekend because of five cases of the highly contagious illness within the program, according to the university. New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was thought to have contracted the viral illness this year during a kids baseball camp he hosted. In 2016, there was an outbreak at Florida State University , even though the infection is more common in day care centers than on college campuses. However, cases occur with regularity on college campuses, according to the American College Health Association.

Symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include fever, painful mouth sores and a rash on the hands and feet.

Hand, foot and mouth is "due to a virus that lives in the intestines, and it is very contagious," said William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University. He noted that late summer and early fall are when enteroviruses -- those related to the intestines -- seem to spread readily.

"You are contagious before you are ill and during the illness, but undoubtedly people have the virus in their intestinal tract who never get ill," Schaffner said. There are also people who become infected but don't have symptoms, though they can spread the illness.

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