Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease

A vesicular exanthem with a characteristic oral-hand-foot pattern has been reported with some frequency in the last few years, and enteroviruses of Coxsackie group A have been implicated. Type A16 is most common, but A5 and A9 have been reported occasionally. The entity associated with type A16 was apparently widespread in the summer and fall of 1966. The course is usually benign but serious complications have been reported in the literature. Although children are most often infected, this series reports only one child out of a total of 11 patients studied. This viral syndrome is not to be confused with "hoof and mouth disease," a rarity in humans and not caused by a coxsackievirus.