Epidemiology and etiology of hand-foot-mouth disease in Anhui Province,2008-2012

Objective To analyze the epidemiology and etiology of hand,foot and mouth disease(HFMD) in Anhui from 2008 to 2012 and provide scientific evidence for formulating effective prevention and control strategies.Methods The data were collected from the National Disease Surveillance Information Management System and the Surveillance Program of HFMD was analyzed by descriptive epidemiological method,according to National Disease Supervision Information Management System and the supervision program of HFMD;Nucleic acid of enterovirus(EV) genome was detected by realtime PCR.Results A total of 360 873 HFMD cases were reported in Anhui from 2008 to 2012,and the average incidence rate of HFMD was 119.53 per million.The peak incidence of HFMD occurred from April to July.The incidence of hand foot and mouth disease in the northern Huaihe was higher than in the southern Yangtze River and Jianghuai.The male cases exceeded the female ones.Children aged 0-5 years old belonged to the high risk group.The laboratory confirmed HFMD cases caused by EV71 accounted for 55.5%,and by CoxA16,26.6%.Conclusions The prevention and control of HFMD should be strengthened for the children under 3 years old,especially for children,who lived in the dispersed rural regions.