Key result
From 2010 to 2021, 71,158 hand, foot, and mouth disease cases were reported in Taiyuan, China, with Coxsackievirus A16 remaining highly prevalent and predominantly belonging to the B1b evolutionary branch.
Why the study?
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a common childhood infectious disease caused by human enteroviruses, prompting investigation into the epidemiological features of HFMD and genetic characteristics of Coxsackievirus A16 in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, from 2010 to 2021.
Observational (n=71,158)
This 12-year surveillance study demonstrates that HFMD primarily affects children aged 1-5 years in Taiyuan, China, with CVA16 (clades B1a and B1b) remaining a prevalent and co-circulating pathogen.
Local HFMD trends and CVA16 sequences inform regional surveillance; leaves open need for multi-center validation.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood infectious disease caused by human enteroviruses (EV). This study aimed to describe the epidemiological features of HFMD and the genetic characteristics of Coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, from 2010 to 2021. Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the time and population distribution of HFMD and the genetic characteristics of CVA16. Except being affected by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, HFMD epidemics were sporadic from January to March each year, and began to increase in April, with a major epidemic peak from May to August, which declined in September, followed by a secondary peak from October to December. The prevalence of EV infection was the highest in children aged one to five years (84.42%), whereas its incidence was very low in children under one year of age (5.48%). Enterovirus nucleic acid was detected by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in 6641 clinical specimens collected from patients with HFMD from 2010 to 2021, and 4236 EV-positive specimens were detected, including 988 enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), 1488 CVA16, and 1760 other enteroviruses. CVA16 remains prevalent and has co-circulated with other EVs in Taiyuan from 2010 to 2021. A phylogenetic tree constructed based on the VP1 region showed that all CVA16 strains belonged to two different clades of the B1 genotype, B1a and B1b. They showed a nucleotide similarity of 86.5–100%, and an amino acid similarity of 96.9–100%. Overall, these findings add to the global genetic resources of CVA16, demonstrate the epidemiological characteristics of HFMD as well as the genetic features of CVA16 in Taiyuan City during 2010–2021, and provide supporting evidence for the prevention and control of HFMD.
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Guo et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) (n=71,158). Enterovirus infection was evaluated. From 2010 to 2021, 71,158 hand, foot, and mouth disease cases were reported in Taiyuan, China, with Coxsackievirus A16 remaining highly prevalent and predominantly belonging to the B1b evolutionary branch.
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