HCMC: EV71 genotype causing severe hand, foot and mouth disease has been identified

SGGP 06/06/2023 07:35

On the evening of June 5, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) announced that the results of gene sequencing by the research team of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Children's Hospital 1 and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) showed that they had detected the B5 genotype of the Enterovirus 71 (EV71) virus, which is the causative agent of severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in children, which has just been discovered at 3 children's hospitals in the city.

All 6 samples of children with severe HFMD being treated at Children's Hospital 1 had positive PCR results for EV71 and all had genotype B5. This is the B5 genotype of EV71 first found in Taiwan (China) in 2007 and in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015 and 2018. According to HCDC's disease surveillance data, the number of children with HFMD in Ho Chi Minh City has shown signs of increasing rapidly in recent weeks, with more than 200 cases last week alone.

In addition, according to the annual dengue fever epidemic pattern in Ho Chi Minh City, the peak season for dengue fever will begin around the 25th week (about 2-3 weeks from now) and is expected to last until the end of October every year. Although there have only been a few rain showers in the past 2 weeks, through HCDC's monitoring of epidemic prevention activities in wards and communes, there have been 20 risk points (with mosquito larvae) out of a total of 39 monitored points, accounting for over 50%. This rate will be even higher when the city enters the rainy season, if each locality and each household does not resolutely kill mosquitoes and mosquito larvae to control the epidemic.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tphcm-da-xac-dinh-kieu-gen-cua-ev71-gay-benh-tay-chan-mieng-nang-post692588.html