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Showing posts with the label HFMD

Return of the Biennial #Circulation of #Enterovirus D68 in #Colorado #Children in 2024 Following the Large 2022 #Outbreak

Abstract Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) caused large biennial cyclical outbreaks of respiratory disease and cases of acute flaccid myelitis from 2014 to 2018 in the USA . An anticipated outbreak did not occur in 2020, likely due to non-pharmaceutical interventions targeting the COVID-19 pandemic. A large respiratory disease outbreak occurred again in 2022 , but uncertainty remained regarding if circulation of EV-D68 would return to the pre-pandemic patterns. We conducted prospective active surveillance of clinical respiratory specimens from Colorado children for EV-D68 in 2023 and 2024. A subset of residual specimens positive for rhinovirus/enterovirus (RV/EV) were tested for EV-D68 via a validated in-house EV-D68 reverse transcription–PCR assay. During epi weeks 18–44 in 2023, 525 residual specimens positive for RV/EV all tested negative for EV-D68. In 2024, during epi weeks 18–44 , 10 ( 1.8% ) of the 546 RV/EV-positive specimens were EV-D68-positive . The EV-D68-positive cases were predomi...

The Emergence of #Coxsackievirus A16 Subgenotype B1c: A Key Driver of the #HFMD #Epidemic in #Guangdong, #China

Abstract Background :  In 2024, mainland China witnessed a significant upsurge in Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) cases. Coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) is one of the primary causative agents of HFMD. Long-term monitoring of theCVA16 infection rate and genotype changes is crucial for the prevention and control of HFMD.  Methods :  A total of 40,673 clinical specimens were collected from suspected HFMD cases in Guangdong province from 2018 to 2024, including rectal swabs (n = 27,954), throat swabs (n = 6791), stool (n = 5923), cerebrospinal fluid (n = 3), and herpes fluid (n = 2). A total of 24,410 samples were detected as EV-positive and further typed by RT-PCR. A total of 872 CVA16-positive samples were isolated and further sequenced to obtain the full-length VP1 sequence. Phylogenetic analysis was performed based on viral protein 1 gene (VP1).  Results :  In the first 25 weeks of 2024 , reported cases of HFMD were 1.36 times higher than the mean rates of 2023 ...