[Genetic diagnosis and molecular epidemiological analyses of hand, foot and mouth disease which prevailed in Osaka Prefecture in 2000].

: Direct rapid genetic diagnosis by RT-PCR as well as virus isolation was performed on the 122 patients with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Osaka Prefecture in 2000, followed by molecular epidemiological analyses of the isolated viruses. MRC-5 cells showed the highest sensitivity for virus isolation, recovering 59 strains of viruses from 80 virus-positive patients. By RT-PCR using newly designed primers spanning VP4 and VP2, corresponding genome regions of coxsackievirus type A16 (CA16) and enterovirus 71 (EV71) isolates were amplified only with primers specific to respective viruses. On the other hand, none of the genomes of prototype enteroviruses of other 49 serotypes were detected with these primers. From the sequence analyses, all of the 22 isolates of CA16 belonged to the same genotype and 33 isolates of EV71 were classified into two genetic groups. The results showed that 3 different genotypes of viruses were prevailing in the epidemic of HFMD in Osaka Prefecture in 2000.