An epidemic analysis of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Zunyi, China between 2012 and 2014

Objectives: To re-evaluate the epidemiology of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in a non-vaccinated population in Zunyi, China. Methods: We used laboratory-based data from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical College, Zunyi, China to assess the epidemiology of the HFMD caused by enteroviruses between January  2012 and November 2014. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine human enteroviruses from a total of 12313 probable cases enrolled in this retrospective study. All analyses were stratified by enterovirus serotype, gender, and age. Results: Virological results were available for 12313 cases of probable HFMD. A total of 5750 cases were positive for viral detection, and the positive rates of infection caused by other enteroviruses was 46.7%, EV71 9%, and CVA16 4.7%. During the study period there was a substantial increase in the occurrence of HFMD. Most of the HFMD patients (87.4%) were aged 0-59 months (median 24; range 0-59). Males showed a higher HFMD prevalence rate (62.4%) than females (37.6%). Conclusion: Enterovirus infection remains an important public health problem and other entroviruses are emerging as the major causative agent of the HFMD in Zunyi, China. Saudi Med J 2015; Vol. 36 (5): 593-598 doi: 10.15537/smj.2015.5.10859