Slapped cheek syndrome is caused by a virus (Image: Getty Images)
Online searches for advice about increased significantly last year, according to health service data.
Five of the ten most visited health conditions on the NHS website mostly affected children, with three of those seeing significant surges compared to 2023.
Slapped cheek syndrome, which can see a rash develop on children’s cheeks, saw the biggest increase with pageviews rising by 220% from 830,000 visits in 2023 to 2.6 million last year.
Also known as fifth disease, the condition is caused by a virus (parvovirus B19) which is spread through and sneezes or touching contaminated objects.
Symptoms can include a high temperature, runny nose and sore throat and headache. It usually gets better on its own within three weeks.
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Pages on hand, foot and mouth disease, and scarlet fever made the top 10 list for the first time with 2.8m and 1.9m visits, respectively.
There were also two million visits to advice on rashes in babies and children in 2024 and another two million to the page on chickenpox.
Advice pages on and symptoms remained the first and second most visited overall, with 3.7m and 3.6m views, respectively.
Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England, said: “The nhs.uk website is available whenever you need it and these latest statistics show how useful it is for millions of people every year, especially for parents needing to check advice on their children’s health.
“We saw a significant increase in visits to the pages on several childhood illnesses in 2024 – including hand, foot and mouth disease and slapped cheek syndrome – and the website includes helpful guidance on how to treat children at home as well as when to visit a GP or access other services.
“I hope millions of people will continue to use the NHS website throughout 2025 to help them stay as healthy as possible.”
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Here’s the full list of the 10 most viewed health conditions on the NHS website in 2024:
- -19 (3.7 million)
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (3.6 million)
- Hand, foot and mouth disease (2.8 million)
- Slapped cheek syndrome (2.7 million)
- High cholesterol (2.2 million)
- Urinary tract infection (2.2 million)
- Chest infection (2.0 million)
- Rashes in babies and children (2.0 million)
- Chickenpox (2.0 million)
- Scarlet fever (1.9 million)