BMC Medical Genomics (Nov 2021)

Emergence of a novel recombinant of CV-A5 in HFMD epidemics in Xiangyang, China

  • Yuting Yu,
  • Zhiyu Luo,
  • Weiping Jin,
  • Jianyi Mai,
  • Shasha Qian,
  • Jia Lu,
  • Zhenni Wei,
  • Shengli Meng,
  • Zejun Wang,
  • Xuhua Guan,
  • Yeqing Tong,
  • Shuo Shen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12920-021-01107-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract Background Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is caused by a variety of enterovirus serotypes and the etiological spectrum worldwide has changed since a large scale of outbreaks occurred in 1997. Methods A large number of clinical specimens of HFMD patients were collected in Xiangyang and genotyping was performed by qRT-PCR, conventional PCR amplification and sequencing. Among the 146 CV-A5 detected cases, the complete genome sequences of representative strains were determined for genotyping and for recombination analysis. Results It was found that CV-A5 was one of the six major serotypes that caused the epidemic from October 2016 to December 2017. Phylogenetic analyses based on the VP1 sequences showed that these CV-A5 belonged to the genotype D which dominantly circulated in China. Recombination occurred between the CV-A5 and CV-A2 strains with a breakpoint in the 2A region at the nucleotide 3791. Conclusions The result may explain the emergence of CV-A5 as one of the major pathogens of HFMD. A multivalent vaccine against HFMD is urgently needed to control the disease and to prevent emerging and spreading of new recombinants.

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