Frontiers in Microbiology (Jan 2022)

Surveillance, Epidemiology and Impact of EV-A71 Vaccination on Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Nanchang, China, 2010–2019

  • Fenglan He,
  • Jia Rui,
  • Zhiqiang Deng,
  • Yanxia Zhang,
  • Ke Qian,
  • Chunhui Zhu,
  • Shanshan Yu,
  • Junling Tu,
  • Wen Xia,
  • Qingxiong Zhu,
  • Shengen Chen,
  • Tianmu Chen,
  • Xianfeng Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.811553
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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After the first national-scale outbreak of Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in China, a national surveillance network was established. Here we described the epidemiology and pathogenic profile of HFMD and the impact of EV-A71 vaccination on pathogen spectrum of enteroviruses in the southeastern Chinese city of Nanchang during 2010–2019. A total of 7,951 HFMD cases from sentinel hospitals were included, of which 4,800 EV-positive cases (60.4%) were identified by real-time RT-PCR. During 2010–2012, enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) was the main causative agent of HFMD, causing 63.1% of cases, followed by 19.3% cases associated with coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16). Since 2013, the proportion of other enteroviruses has increased dramatically, with the sub genotype D3 strain of Coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) replacing the dominance of EV-A71. These genetically diverse native strains of CV-A6 have co-transmitted and co-evolved in Nanchang. Unlike EV-A71 and CV-A16, most CV-A6 infections were concentrated in autumn and winter. The incidence of EV-A71 infection negatively correlated with EV-A71 vaccination (r = −0.990, p = 0.01). And severe cases sharply declined as the promotion of EV-A71 vaccines. After 2-year implementation of EV-A71 vaccination, EV-A71 is no longer detected from the reported HFMD cases in Nanchang. In conclusion, EV-A71 vaccination changed the pattern of HFMD epidemic, and CV-A6 replaced the dominance of EV-A71 over time.

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