Epidemiological and genetic analysis of hand-foot-mouth disease by enterovirus A71 in Taizhou, P. R. China, between 2010 and 2013

What is it about?

Out of a population of 1,098 enteroviruses (EVs)-positive hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) specimens, 352 were screened positive for EV-A71—accounting for 32.1% of all EV-positive specimens. This percentage denotes EV-A71 as the second major serotype of enteroviruse among HFMD suffers in Taizhou. An epidemic outbreak of EV-A71 among HFMD children was found in Taizhou in the second quarter of 2012. Phylogeny analysis based on the VP1 complete sequences leads us to find a sub-clade (designated TZ1-1) of EV-A71 circulating in Taizhou, whose emergence might be correlated with the epidemic outbreak. This correlation was further supported by the followed two analyses (namely skyline plot of population history and birth–death SIR simulation of epidemic history). And more importantly, at a positively selected site of VP1 caspid, a mutation of N31D was found to be a synapomorphy of TZ1-1 and its occurrence might be correlated with the epidemic outbreak.

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