Pathogen surveillance on hand-foot-mouth disease in Guangxi in 2008

Objective To investigate the major etiological agent of handfoot-mouth disease(HFMD) in Guangxi.Methods The herpes fluid,throat swab,anal swab,stool and other specimens were collected from clinically diagnosed cases with HFMD,and the viral nucleic acids of enterovirus(EV),enterovirus 71( EV71) and Coxasckievirus A16(CoxA16) were tested by RT-PCR.Results A total of 1286 specimens from 753 clinically diagnosed cases with HFMD were tested.The viral nucleic acids of EV were found in 422 cases.Among them,176 cases were identified as EV71 infection,36 cases were CoxA16 infection,the other 210 cases belonged to other enterovirus infection.Detectable EV71 positive rates were over 50% in 5 cities with under 20% of positive rates in other 2 cities in Guangxi.Conclusion HFMD was caused by different types of EV,but EV71 was major pathgen of HFMD in Guangxi in 2008.